Wu'er Kaixi: The Chinese dissident can't get himself arrested

Wu'er Kaixi was one of the principle leaders of China's pro-democracy in 1989 that tried to bring democratic  reforms to China.  The protests ended in June of 1989 when then Primer Li Peng order the military into Tiananmen square killing an unknown number protesters.

 One would believe that being of China's most wanted people that Wu'er Kaixi could get himself arrested but you would be wrong.  He's tried 4 different times and hasn't succeeded.

As such, it is difficult to imagine why Wu’er, who lives in self-imposed exile in Taiwan, would ever want to return to a country whose government killed hundreds of his fellow pro-democracy demonstrators on that infamous day more than two decades ago.

That, however, is exactly what Wu’er wishes to do. Monday marks his fourth attempt to turn himself in and return to China – and the fourth time he was refused. This time, he had boarded a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Taipei to Bangkok on Monday morning, using a stopover in Hong Kong to try to turn himself in to authorities, with the hope that he would be deported to China. The Hong Kong authorities put him straight back on a plane to Taiwan. 

Alongside Shen Tong, Chai Ling and Wang Dan, the most wanted of the 21 student leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests who was jailed twice for his actions, Wu’er Kaixi was one of the iconic faces of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movements. In May 1989, Wu’er met Li Peng, the Chinese premier who just weeks later ordered tanks to roll into Tiananmen Square to brutally quell the protests. Wu’er, who was on hunger strike at the time, wore a hospital gown during a live television interview in which he rebuked Li Peng in a remarkable sign of defiance.

“Li Peng sat down and gave us an endless monologue, he was saying sorry for being 20 minutes late, but the traffic was bad because the city was in chaos, implying that we should be responsible for the situation. So I interrupted him and said: ‘No, no, you weren’t 20 minutes late, you were a month late. We asked you to come on 19 April,’” Wu’er said of the incident years later.