As part of the debate over what role human rights abuses should play in American relations with China, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) gave a speech at the Asia Society calling for a bilateral commission to study "the evolution of human rights in both countries over the last 20 to 30 years." Such a commission "would point out the successes and failures" of both sides: "both Tiananmen Square and Kent State."

[Ed.: Ted Turner drew the same comparison while plugging the CNN documentary series Cold War in 1998: "We are often judgmental about people that are different from us... and we don't even understand what their problems are... A lot of students got killed at Tiananmen Square, but I remember several students got killed at Kent State. And, remember, they have a lot more students than we do. We shot down our own students.]

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