Taipei  - Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou issued a mild statement Wednesday to mark the 19th anniversary of the massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and urged China to introduce democracy.

Ma has toned down his message from previous anniversaries when as mayor of Taipei he lashed China for violating human rights. In office for just two weeks, the new president doesn't want to spoil the current harmonious atmosphere across the Taiwan Strait.

Instead of blasting China for killing pro-democracy activities and trampling human rights, Ma praised China for its quick relief effort following the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province and more freedom in press coverage of the quake, before criticizing China's lack of democracy.

"I have taken part in the memorial activities for the June 4 massacre in previous years. The biggest difference with this anniversary is that three weeks ago Sichuan was hit by a major earthquake," Ma wrote in his three-paragraph message.

"Mainland officials' quick relief effort, concern for the quake-region residents, opening of press coverage, welcoming foreign rescue teams, friendliness to Taiwanese rescue teams - all these have received favourable media coverage and show that China's three-decade reform and opening up have achieved results," he wrote.

"In my inauguration speech I said that we are concerned about the welfare of the 1.3 billion Chinese people and hope China can move towards freedom and democracy and create conditions for lasting cross-strait peace. This is why we are still concerned about the June 4th incident," he wrote.

In previous years, Ma has made speeches or attended candlelight vigils to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre victims and demanded China respect human rights.

In the early hours of June 4, 1989, Chinese troops and tanks moved into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to crackdown on hunger-striking students demanding democratic reform.

China claims no one was killed in the crackdown, but the Tiananmen Mothers group, made up by family members of the Tiananmen Massacre victims, claims at least 155 people were killed in the violence.

The group has been demanding the right to mourn peacefully in public, the right to accept humanitarian aid from organizations and individuals inside and outside China, rehabilitation of the victims, the release of those detained since the 1989 pro-democracy movement and punishment of those responsible for the massacre. (dpa)