Citation

Scobell A. Armed Forces Soc. 1992; 18(2): 193-213.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The People's Liberation Army played the decisive role in crushing the 1989 student prodemocracy movement in the People's Republic of China. The actual process by which the PLA became involved in the crisis can be broken down into three phases. First, a divided and indecisive Chinese Communist Party leadership presides over an unprecedented outpouring of public discontent. Second, after much delay, top CCP leaders decide to impose martial law, and units of the PLA try unsuccessfully to enter downtown Beijing and break up the protests. Finally, top CCP leaders order troops to use deadly force. On 3-4 June 1989, troops open fire on crowds and succeed in ending the demonstrations, at a cost of hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. The PLA's involvement in the incident has had serious and immediate results for the military, including a marked decline in public prestige and a drop in morale. Over the long term, the 1989 events in China coupled with communism's global crisis suggest that the natural evolution of the CCP-PLA relationship from symbiotic to coalitional may increase the likelihood of an eventual army-party split.