PRC Protests Service and U.S. Suit of Chinese Leader for Tiananmen Atrocities

On August 28, 2000, five participants of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations filed a lawsuit against Li Peng, the chairman of the People Republic of China’s (PRC) National People’s Congress in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, triggering a quick protest by the PRC Government. Mr. Li was sued due to his role in the military force used to quell the protests and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Beijing. The lawsuit marks the first legal action taken in the U.S. against a Chinese official and has created controversy in the already fragile bilateral relations between the U.S. and the PRC...[more]