Memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre

Since then, annual memorials have been held in places outside of mainland China, most notably in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States.

Although there had not been any cases of local transmission of COVID-19, and although Art Basel was allowed to take place, the 32nd anniversary commemoration in Victoria Park was similarly banned due to pandemic restrictions.

[5][6] Residents were not sure whether or not the annual demonstration would continue after the upcoming 1997 sovereignty handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

[10] According to the Associated Press the "demonstrators cut across many divisions" and included groups of people such as youth, business professionals, senior citizens, and workers.

[10] "The Pillar of Shame" was "controversial" partially because City Hall refused to allow the sculpture to be shown in public during the Hong Kong handover ceremony.

[14] Wei Jingsheng "sent a pre-recorded video message" that was broadcast through loud speakers and Wang Dan "spoke live from New York".

[15] The tenth anniversary, in 1999, also featured the controversial "Pillar of Shame" and according to the South China Morning Post, the sculpture included a column that read "the spirit of democracy martyrs will live forever".

[18][19] As the attendees were holding candles and playing traditional Chinese instruments, demonstrators chanted "Vindicate the student movement of 1989!".

[22] In the months that followed, the political climate grew even more hostile under Carrie Lam following the passage of the national security legislation by the NPC, and 24 activists were arrested as organisers of the vigil.

[22] On 28 April 2021, a government spokesperson announced that the 32nd anniversary commemoration in Victoria Park would again be banned due to pandemic restrictions[23] despite there having been no locally transmitted cases over the previous six weeks.

[4] According to the New York Times, another man, in 1992, named Wang Wanxin "was dragged away after he tried to unfurl a banner calling on Deng Xiaoping [...] to apologize for the 1989 army crackdown".

It comes weeks after China-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in as president, succeeding Ma Ying-jeou who oversaw an unprecedented eight-year rapprochement with Beijing.

[34] In the past, the ROC government has repeatedly urged the PRC to learn lessons from the Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, in which more than 1,000 were killed according to some estimates.

A day ahead of the 4 June anniversary, senior lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the pro-Cross-Strait relations Kuomintang (KMT) were joined by human rights activists and exiled Chinese dissident Wu'er Kaixi as they observed a minute's silence.

They also signed a motion proposed by DPP lawmaker Yu Mei-nu to demand the government "express Taiwan's serious concerns over redressing the June 4 incident at the appropriate time" in future interactions between the two sides.

For example, the organizers of the annual candlelight vigil, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, have a website where people can sign the "Condolence Book for the victims of Tiananmen".