ABSTRACT
The Chinese government crackdown on prodemocracy demonstrators in the streets of Beijing and Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, had a profound influence on relations between the United States (US) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). This chapter reviews criticism of the US, the proposed sanctions against the Beijing government by the US Congress, President Bush's hesitation to impose harsh punishment on the PRC, and Beijing's response to US sanctions. Imposition of harsh economic sanctions, according to the House, would be more effective in forcing Beijing's leaders to concede. The administration feared that a hard-line policy toward Beijing might risk pushing the Communist leaders back into a state of Mao-xenophobia, which would be dangerous to East Asia and perhaps to the world as a whole. Continuation of the economic reforms, the policy of openness, and independent and peaceful diplomacy were of fundamental importance to Beijing.
