WASHINGTON, DC (AFP) - The leaders of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement crushed 20 years ago are warning the world not to get swept up by China's growing economic might, saying that little has changed on human rights.

Beijing was quiet Thursday on the 20th anniversary of the bloodshed, with security forces pouring into Tiananmen Square and authorities blacking out foreign media coverage.

But tens of thousands rallied in semi-autonomous Hong Kong while in Washington, key leaders of the student protests reunited to make an appeal for democracy in their homeland.

Among the chief concerns for the students was ensuring that US and other foreign leaders, whose appeals led to their release from jails, keep up the pressure on a rising Beijing.

"For the past 20 years, there have been great changes in Chinese society, but political development continues to stagnate because of the ossified attitude of the Chinese leaders," the Tiananmen leaders said in a statement.

They rejected the idea that the Chinese can live without democracy so long as the economy keeps growing at its heady pace.

"We do not accept the so-called Beijing Consensus, which discards truth and justice for the sake of economic development, posing a strong challenge to universal values," they wrote.

Wang Dan, the onetime student leader who topped Beijing's most-wanted list and is now a US-based academic, said that foreign leaders' hopes that a more open Chinese economy would bring political progress were being proven wrong.

Wang pointed to China's strident rejection of an appeal by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who urged Beijing to make public a casualty toll for the night of June 3-4, 1989, when hundreds or even thousands may have died.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that "on the political incident that took place in the 1980s, the party and the government have already reached a conclusion."

Many foreign leaders "believe that the leadership in China is not the same one as 20 years ago. I think that what this spokesperson said shows they're wrong--the Chinese Communist Party has not changed one bit," Wang said.

Chen Pokong, who was instrumental in spreading the Tiananmen protests to southern China, feared that the United States would be "short-sighted" in its policy toward China.

"For the past 20 years there's been a lot of talk about the emergence of China, but frankly I would say it is the emergence not of China but of the Chinese Communist Party," Chen said.

"We can see a lot of this growth has gone into the hands of those in power who use it to expand the police and persecution.

"I think the US government has made many mistakes in the past through its appeasement policy toward China and I am afraid that the Obama administration may repeat that mistake," he said.

President Barack Obama has called for broader cooperation between the United States and China. Clinton in February caused a stir when she said that human rights concerns would not impede work between the countries on issues such as the global economic crisis.

Su Xiaokang, a writer who played a key role in Tiananmen Square, said that instead of the economy, intellectuals could play a driving force in opening up China.

He was upbeat about Charter 08, a petition last year by intellectuals who at great risk to themselves appealed for greater political freedom.

"For the past 20 years, you heard nothing but how China was progressing economically," Su said.

"It's of great significance that intellectuals finally have the guts to stand up and speak out." (By SHAUN TANDON/AFP)