The Chinese Communist Party is exporting its tyranny all over the world after the United States let it get away with murder 33 years ago during the Tiananmen Square Massacre, three Chinese activists say.

It was a bloody night for pro-democracy student protestors on June 3, 1989. Tanks rolled in towards Tiananmen Square, the heart of China’s capital, crushing people and objects in their way. Tear gas and live ammunition inundated the square.

Panicked protesters propped limp bodies onto bikes, buses, and ambulances to ferry them away. Thousands of unarmed protesters are estimated to have died.

The mass murder shocked the world. In response, then-U.S. President George H.W. Bush condemned the massacre, suspended arms shipments to China, and imposed some sanctions.

“But they moved on quickly,” said Li Hengqing, a former 1989 student leader who now lives in Washington. Li pointed out that most sanctions were soon lifted and the economic engagement resumed.

At the press conference held a day after the Tiananmen Massacre, Bush said, “I happen to believe that the commercial contacts have led, in essence, to this quest for more freedom. I think as people have commercial incentive, whether it’s in China or in other totalitarian systems, the move to democracy becomes more inexorable.”