ABSTRACT
After the events of June 1989, the credibility of the CCP’s claim to be a socialist organisation leading the nation to salvation was challenged not only by the social and ideological dislocation created by economic reform, but also by the diplomatic and economic sanctions imposed by the G7 states and the European Union. Over the years that followed, the articulation of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ began to take on added significance as the Party had to achieve the tasks set for it by Deng Xiaoping in the context of unassailable American military predominance, the liberalisation of international trade and financial markets, and the challenge of the information revolution.
