ABSTRACT
From the perspectives of China’s communist leaders, the shootings of unarmed civilian protestors by the People’s Liberation Army on June 4, 1989, in and around Tiananmen Square, brought to an end the prospects for political reform in China. Despite the immediate anxieties of its leaders, from a strategic point of view, China benefited enormously from the end of the Cold War. China was able to concentrate primarily upon economic development without the fear of invasion or of major wars close to home. China’s neighbors knew that the possible breakdown of the Chinese state would bring nothing but trouble and economic hardship to those living within reach of China. China had a particular reason for making a large contribution, as this was an entirely new and valuable experience of working together with military contingents from other countries in the unfamiliar task of international peacekeeping.
