ABSTRACT
Beijing’s “emergence” as a global power coincided with the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union. Beijing’s economic power was not very visible in 1988-90 (these were the years when Americans and others were more worried about the emergence of the Japanese “economic superstate”). Furthermore, China was entering a period of domestic turmoil, which was to make it something of a pariah in the West and the human rights community. In 1988 mass uprisings took place in Tibet. They continued until March 1989, when martial law was imposed in Lhasa and the rest of the Tibetan province. Then, in May, Tiananmen Square was occupied by students and joined by Chinese workers in prodemocracy demonstrations which spread to other major cities. Their occupation continued throughout the month until, on June 4, hundreds of Chinese students and workers were killed when the PLA forcibly cleared Tiananmen Square. Most of these events were commented on exhaustively by the international media, who were in Beijing to cover Gorbachev’s summit meeting with the Chinese leadership.
