Ten years have passed since the shocking images of carnage in Beijing galvanized me into a new life as a human rights activist. The government's brutality then, and all my experiences since, have convinced me that without a proper accounting for those crimes, China's future will remain in doubt.

A day after seeing those scenes on TV in the United States where I was studying for a Ph.D., I abandoned astrophysics and caught the first flight home to China. For two months, in a time of terror, I tried to find out what had happened, dodging police, contacting people in hiding, and handing over donations raised abroad to the victims and their families. I came back from this trip with one simple belief: you can massacre people, but you can never kill their desire for freedom.

The peaceful demonstrations of 1989 gave millions of Chinese people their first heady taste of political freedom, and a hope that they could have a say in their nation's public life. But the government labeled this completely non-violent movement a "counterrevolutionary rebellion" in order to legitimize its brutal crackdown and send a clear message to its people that there would be no political liberalization.

People now argue that China has moved on from that time: the economy has grown, living standards have risen, and there is less state interference in people's daily lives. But such a view ignores the fact that many of the current challenges of China's development are directly related to a lack of political accountability and transparency. The Chinese government continues to claim that the Tiananmen movement and democracy mean political turmoil and national disintegration. "Stability above all else," as the official slogan goes. But stability built on repression is like a house built on a live volcano.

The Chinese Communist Party has abandoned all but the rhetoric of Marxism, and lacks any alternative vision for the future of the country. It has staked its future on continued economic growth as a justification for its repressive version of "stability." But any economic slowdown calls into question this enforced compact with society.

Thus the government has no appropriate means of dealing with the recent increases in spontaneous demonstrations by laid-off urban workers or impoverished farmers, let alone dissatisfied religious sects. The government's fanning of the flames of xenophobic nationalism after the recent bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade is just the most recent sign of a deep sense of insecurity, which is also reflected in the suppression of dissenting voices.

Those who remember the power of the awakening of 1989 realize the fundamental importance of keeping such a spirit alive if China is to pass through its current transition peacefully. This is why we believe that a reversal of the damning official "verdict" on the protests is so crucial. The Chinese government must acknowledge that the 1989 massacre was a crime against the Chinese people as a first step towards justice, national reconciliation, and true stability.

Concretely, reversing the verdict means taking the following actions. First, the government must publicly state that the 1989 demonstrations were not a "counterrevolutionary rebellion." Second, the thousands of political prisoners still in Chinese labor camps for "crimes" related to the 1989 democracy movement must be released. Third, the Chinese government must issue an official apology to the victims, the wounded, and their families and provide proper compensation to them. Fourth, the Chinese government must allow hundreds of political exiles like myself to return to our own country.

Finally, an independent criminal tribunal must be set up to investigate the June Fourth massacre, and those found responsible for the killings and other atrocities, including former Premier Li Peng, must be indicted and brought to trial without impunity.

Taking such steps is not easy; it requires courageous political vision, looking beyond the interests of ruling cliques to the future of the Chinese nation. But only by reversing the verdict can a new leadership in China begin to re-establish the public moral legitimacy that was murdered ten years ago. This is the only starting point for a long-overdue political reform that is an absolute necessity if China is to enter the 21st century as a truly great nation and a responsible member of the international community.

Tiananmen and its spirit belong to the world. Reversing the verdict on June 4, 1989, will not only be a milestone towards establishing democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in China, it will be a global victory for human peace and justice.