Taiwan's new president Tsai Ing-wen urged China to give its people more rights and "heal past wounds and pain" on the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown today.
Her remarks came after the island's first ever Tiananmen commemoration in parliament on Friday, as lawmakers urged the government to address human rights issues in its dealings with China.
Ties with China have rapidly cooled since Tsai won the presidency in January, with Beijing highly distrustful of her traditionally independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Although Taiwan has been self-ruling since a split with the mainland in 1949 after a civil war, China still sees it as part of its territory.
In her first comments on Tiananmen as Taiwan's leader, Tsai said China must be open about the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing, which by some estimates left more than 1,000 dead.
The protests are branded a "counter-revolutionary rebellion" by Chinese authorities and many on the mainland remain unaware of what happened.
"Do not let June 4 forever be unspoken between the two sides. Only the ruling party on the other side can heal the past wounds and pain of the Chinese people," Tsai said in a post on her Facebook page.
Tsai said she was not pointing fingers at China and wanted to maintain cross-strait peace and stability.
"I'm sincerely willing to share Taiwan's experience of democratisation with the other side," she added and urged China to listen to different views.
By improving rights China would win international respect, Tsai added.
