HONG KONG (AFP) — One of the main student leaders from the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 flew to China's southern territory of Macau on Wednesday and said he wanted to turn himself in to face trial on the mainland.
Wu'er Kaixi flew to Macau from Taipei on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the bloody military crackdown which ended weeks of unprecedented protests in Beijing.
Speaking briefly to AFP by phone while detained by immigration officials in Macau, the dissident said he wanted to get into the mainland via the southern Chinese territory but had been prevented from doing so.
He said Macau immigration officials had asked him to return to Taipei but he refused. No one from the Macau government was immediately available for comment.
"I will not return to Taiwan unless (they) deport me," he told AFP.
Macau, like its neighbour Hong Kong, is part of China but operates a separate legal and immigration policy, part of a deal agreed when it was handed back by former colonial power Portugal.
A member of the Uighur ethnic minority, Wu'er Kaixi was number two on the government's "most-wanted" list of student protesters following the crackdown, which left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead.
He was able to flee China after the June 4 crackdown and now lives in Taiwan, working as an investment banker.
Wu'er Kaixi said in a statement released through organisers of a protest in Taipei -- where he was scheduled to appear on Wednesday -- that he wanted to turn himself in to Chinese authorities on the anniversary of the crackdown.
"After turning myself in, I hope to use the Chinese court to express my opinions and debate the matter with the government," the statement said, adding he did not believe he had done anything wrong in 1989.
"I want to demand (the government) admit its crime and apologise to the public, and to punish those responsible and seek forgiveness for the families of the victims."
He said he had been unable to see his parents for 20 years because he was unable to enter mainland China and they were barred from leaving.
"This is a cruel and shameless act by the Chinese government, which does not fit the basic principles of humanity nor traditional Chinese values," he said.
Wu'er Kaixi became a celebrity overnight after he interrupted then-Premier Li Peng during a meeting between student leaders and politicians aired live on state television on May 18, 1989.
He was seen as a hardline student leader and took part in a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, resulting in his hospitalisation.
On Tuesday, another Tiananmen student leader, Xiang Xiaoji, was stopped from entering Hong Kong to try and take part in the city's annual candlelit vigil on June 4.
He was put back on a plane to New York by immigration officials, campaigners said.
Both Amnesty International and the United States consulate condemned Hong Kong's decision to bar Xiang.
On Saturday, Xiong Yan, another protest leader and one of the 21 "most-wanted" Tiananmen Square student demonstrators was surprisingly allowed to enter Hong Kong.
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