Tiananmen Square in retrospect

[Stratego]

It's been 23+ years since the Chinese government crushed the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989. In retrospect, did the Chinese government make the right decision? From an economic and human rights perspective, would China have been better if the protests were allowed to continue?

Around the same time was the collapse of the Soviet Union. The pro-Democracy movement was allowed to take effect in Russia, but the country didn't really become better off. Corruption and human rights records were still piss poor, but the country went into a decade and a half of figurative wandering. It wasn't until Putin rose to power that Russia got its shit together and is rising again in the world stage.

So, whether you decide to compare Russia to China or not, do you think that in retrospect, the Chinese government's decision to crush the protest make China better off?

[Stratego]

Yea crushing the protests made china better off because it kept the country stable. But the protests themselves scared the ccp into reforming into the china of today instead of the china of the 60's.

Shame about the deaths, those students were unfortunate martyrs who sacrificed themselves for a better china.

[foadi]

considering that china is now the best run country in the developing world, i'd say yes.

[Boris Johnson]

It had a lot less to do with the political settlement in china than the nearly two decades of 11-8% growth did.

However, people as people,tend to start caring about government again when the prosperity starts to fade.

It's unlikely for a number of reasons that China can keep going as it's gone for much longer.

[Stratego]

[Boris Johnson]