--- title: Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump description: Donald Trump said the Tiananmen Square massacre was a show of strength by Chinese leaders. John Kasich strongly disagreed canonical: https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-11T04:19:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:24.211Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump og:description: “The Chinese government butchered those kids," og:url: https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75c58f9cdd1294e3/69888a9d2dce01c1bd9e8274/republican_debate_florida_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4929 og:image:height: 2773 og:image:alt: Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump twitter:description: “The Chinese government butchered those kids," twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75c58f9cdd1294e3/69888a9d2dce01c1bd9e8274/republican_debate_florida_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 11, 2016 4:19 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, speaks, as Republican presidential candidates, businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, listen, during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla. Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, speaks, as Republican presidential candidates, businessman Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, listen, during the Republican presidential debate sponsored by CNN, Salem Media Group and the Washington Times at the University of Miami, March 10, 2016, in Coral Gables, Fla.Wilfredo Lee—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 11, 2016 4:19 AM UTC During the Republican debate Thursday, John Kasich strongly defended the Chinese student protesters from the Tiananmen Square Massacre against Donald Trump’s claim that the government showed “strength” by killing them. In 1989, the Chinese government killed more than 200 people to quell pro-democracy protests. Trump said Thursday that was a show of strength by the Chinese leaders. “That doesn’t mean I was endorsing that,” Trump said. “I said that was a strong, powerful government. They kept down the riot, it was a horrible thing.” (Trump [told Playboy Magazine](http://www.ijreview.com/2016/01/513180-trumps-comment-about-chinese-government-at-tianenman-square-shows-hes-strongman-america-needs/) in 1990, “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”) Ohio Gov. John Kasich immediately disagreed with Trump. “The Chinese government butchered those kids,” he said fiercely. “And when that young man stood in front of that tank — we ought to build a statue of him over here when he faced down the Chinese government.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/"},"headline":"Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump","datePublished":"2016-03-11T04:19:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:24.211Z","description":"“The Chinese government butchered those kids\"","url":"https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump","john kasich"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75c58f9cdd1294e3/69888a9d2dce01c1bd9e8274/republican_debate_florida_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75c58f9cdd1294e3/69888a9d2dce01c1bd9e8274/republican_debate_florida_a.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz","caption":"Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Ted Cruz","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4255168/gop-debate-kasich-trump-tiananmen-square/","name":"Kasich Defends Tiananmen Square Protesters Against Trump"}}]}] ```