Global Power Dynamics and Deng Xiaoping’s Deadly Crackdown in June 1989

• In Event: International History and Politics in East Asia

Abstract

This article revisits Deng Xiaoping’s decision to suppress the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Traditional explanations emphasize domestic political factors, especially the intra-party power struggles and the dynamics between “conservative” CCP leaders and “radical” student demonstrators. By introducing newly available historical materials, this article instead sheds light on the importance of the changing international environment in the 1980s that critically influenced Deng’s decision. This study argues that Deng perceived an increasing threat to the regime due to shifts in global power dynamics, including the resurgence of American hegemony and the rapid decline of the Soviet Union. These shifts diminished China’s bargaining power in the U.S.-Chinese-Soviet triangle while enhancing the ideological allure of the U.S. to Chinese elites. The political crises in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989 confirmed Deng’s threat perception, leading to his military suppression of the protests. His decision was a strategic move with dual objectives: eliminating political dissent within the Party and wider Chinese society, and demonstrating the Party’s determination to defend the Leninist traits of the regime to the West. The examination of 1989 case provides insights into how Xi Jinping may interpret and respond to the interplay of external and internal threats today.

Author

• (Clark) Aoqi Wu, Department of Politics, The Catholic University of America