Will Taoiseach speak out on Chinese human rights?

IT is the world’s largest - and most infamous - square, covering more than 100 acres. And at the weekend, China reportedly posted 1,000 extra police officers in Tiananmen Square to prevent any protests.

The reason was the ill health of former premier and Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, a reformer who opposed the use of force against the student pro-democracy demonstrators who occupied the square in 1989.

Mr Zhao lost that battle, arriving at the square on May 19 to personally apologise to the students, telling them with tears in his eyes: “I have come too late.” He pleaded with them to go home, but they refused.