ABSTRACT
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was unwilling in spring 1989 to compromise with a nation-wide democracy movement. The CCP leadership would not agree to accountability through free elections. It refused to allow its monopoly of political power to be made uncertain. The CCP would not even legalize an autonomous student organization, the bottom-line demand of the movement. The ruling party elite rejected any democratic opening. Instead China has become a world leader in numbers of political prisoners, incarcerated netzians, and jailed journalists.
