Question

Why would beijing's government's use of tanks as a reaction to the pro- democracy in the Tienanmen Square be expected?

Answer 1

Answer:

The Tiananmen Square protests were student-led demonstrations calling for democracy, free speech and a free press in China. They were halted in a  crackdown, known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, by the Chinese government on June 4 and 5, 1989.

Pro-democracy protesters, mostly students, initially marched through Beijing to Tiananmen Square following the death of Hu Yaobang. Hu, a former Communist Party leader, had worked to introduce democratic reform in China. In mourning Hu, the students called for a more open, democratic government. Eventually thousands of people joined the students in Tiananmen Square, with the protest’s numbers increasing to the tens of thousands by mid-May.

Explanation:

At issue was a frustration with the limits on political freedom in the country given its one-party form of government, with the Communist Party holding sway and ongoing economic troubles. Although China’s government had instituted a number of reforms in the 1980s that established a limited form of capitalism in the country, the poor and working-class Chinese still faced significant challenges, including lack of jobs and increased poverty.

The students also argued that China’s educational system did not  prepare them for an economic system with elements of free-market capitalism.

Some leaders within China’s government were sympathetic to the protesters’ cause, while others saw them as a political threat.