The Tiananmen Square Massacre and Taiwan

On June 5th, 1989, I, along with much of the rest of the world, watched the news transfixed by footage of an ordinary-looking man who stood up to a line of military tanks. For six weeks, starting on April 15th, students and workers had held peaceful demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. On June 4th, the army was sent in to clear the protesters. It was a massacre. Hundreds – possibly thousands – were killed.

The world did not see footage of the crackdown. We saw what happened the day after, when a lone man stood in front of a column of tanks. I don’t know if I was watching it live, but I vividly remember people speculating about whether the tanks were going to roll over him. It really stuck with me. I searched it out again a few years ago.

I knew watching it as a child that what he was doing was brave. But only rewatching it as an adult did I get just how brave he was. He brought those massive tanks to a complete stop. He climbed on top of the lead tank and appeared to try and open the hatch. Someone from inside did emerge from the top, words were exchanged, and the man climbed back down. But he still refused to simply let them move on. I think he had the sort of bravery that stems from a deep-rooted faith in justice. He was certain he could tell them to stop because he was in the right and they weren’t. It’s unusual to see that kind of faith in adults. But it means a lot when you do.

It was a shocking moment because in the 1980s you didn’t get to see – or hear – much about what was happening inside China. There was a sense that the government there was all-powerful and that its people couldn’t voice any dissent. The image of an ordinary man standing up to a line of army tanks was the first indication for many of us that maybe things weren’t quite that simple over there.

Were the six weeks of protest leading up to it not an indication? I’d no idea there’d been ongoing protests for so long. I just knew that there had been a peaceful protest violently crushed, and that the next day, a brave man stood up to the army and said I’m not going to simply let this pass.

The Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and Taiwan

The Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, and Taiwan are all linked together in my head. Let me try and explain how.

As the years rolled by, I naturally learned a little more about China, bit by bit. As you do, watching documentaries and searching out answers to random questions you might have online. Then, a few years ago, I started reading The Three-Body Problem. It starts with a scene set during the Cultural Revolution. I vaguely remembered an episode of the documentary series People’s Century that covered the Cultural Revolution. It was crazy so I did remember a few details about it. But I was worried that it would be necessary to know the history of China in order to appreciate the story. It’s not, and it’s a good read. So I stopped reading the book and I first listened to one of the The Great Courses on Audible about China.

It was great to hear the history told as one continuous tale, showing how different events led to one another. The course naturally covered the Tiananmen Square protests and their subsequent silencing. For the first time, I realised that many of the students and workers taking part in those 1989 protests were the grown-up children of the Cultural Revolution, which had at its heart the Maoist idea of continuous revolution. It must have been a very volatile and chaotic period to grow up through.

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was the leader who ultimately restored order to the country. His economic reforms were essential for China’s eventual growth into the economic powerhouse it is today. Because Deng was so pragmatic in business, millions of students and citizens reasonably hoped he would eventually be pragmatic in politics, too. He had even spoken openly about the need for political reforms in the early 1980s.

It has to be said, most of the worker-protesters were probably more worried about immediate economic concerns and about moving from system with many guaranteed jobs for life to a more competitive market economy. But many of the student-protestors were seeking genuine political freedom, and they were in part inspired by Taiwan’s concurrent transition to democracy.

When you see what Deng did for China, while his handling of the Tiananmen Square Massacre was clearly a horrific overreaction, it is hard to condemn man. Perhaps he saw the spirit of the Cultural Revolution’s chaos alive in the protesters and believed he couldn’t let chaos reign once again. Even if the protesters were completely peaceful. Or perhaps it was a cold loyalty to the party, which would be fundamentally threatened by a more open political system. Whatever his reasons, it was a tragic overreaction.

Taiwan

The Kuomintang (KMT) emerged from the revolutionary movement that helped overthrow the Qing Dynasty during the 1911 Revolution, leading to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. Under Sun Yat‑sen, the party adopted the “Three Principles of the People”: Nationalism (ending foreign domination and unifying China), Democracy (establishing constitutional governance), and People’s Livelihood (promoting social welfare and land reform). Although these principles articulated an ambitious vision for China’s modernization, the KMT government that consolidated power under Chiang Kai‑shek in the late 1920s developed into an authoritarian, one‑party regime with strong militaristic and anti‑communist characteristics.

After World War II, the long‑running conflict between the KMT and Mao Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intensified into full‑scale civil war. In 1949, the CCP gained control of mainland China and founded the People’s Republic of China. The KMT government retreated to Taiwan, where it maintained its claim to be the legitimate government of all China. On Taiwan, the KMT imposed martial law and carried out political repression known as the “White Terror“, creating one of the longest periods of martial law in modern history.

Martial law in Taiwan was lifted in 1987, initiating a gradual process of political liberalization and democratization. The formation of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1986—technically illegal at the time—and its later legalization marked a significant step toward a competitive multi‑party system. Taiwan’s transition demonstrated that a Chinese‑speaking society could undergo peaceful democratic reform, a development observed with interest by some intellectuals and students in mainland China despite limited information flows.

Taiwan and Hong Kong were sometimes cited by reform‑minded intellectuals and activists as examples of more open Chinese societies, though they were not the primary drivers of the 1989 movement.

*I had to edit this section as the link between Taiwan’s transition to democracy and its inspiring some Tiananmen Square protesters was not as strong as I imagined. But these events are linked in my imagination – so that’s why I wrote this post.

China’s Designs on Taiwan

The frequent mention of Taiwan in the news of late has caused me to think about Tiananmen Square, And so I notice that today is the anniversary of that tragic incident. I wanted to share my thoughts on why the June 4th incident should make Beijing reconsider its plans to forcefully “reunite” Taiwan with the mainland. Now, it should be clear that I am no expert. But all the talk about Taiwan means these thoughts are frequently running through my mind, so I may as well share them – and hopefully it’s obvious that no disrespect is intended toward anyone, anywhere.

I think annexing Taiwan would actually create a serious existential threat to the CCP. Not just because the Taiwanese have a living memory of moving from an authoritarian system to a democratic one – although I think that’s a factor. Rather, it’s because the Party would find itself dangerously overstretched trying to contain all of its dissatisfied and dissident elements at once. By invading and attempting to occupy Taiwan, the CCP would risk turning its existing, simmering domestic vulnerabilities into active – potentially synchronised – internal security crises.

A successful occupation of Taiwan would require hundreds of thousands of troops, massive economic resources, and total administrative focus. It would be foolish to think it would be an easy victory. Just look at how Russia is doing in Ukraine, four years into an invasion that was supposed to be over in four days. A cross-strait conflict would drain resources and cause a hyper-fixation on a single external front. There is nothing like being caught up in a foreign war to make a regime miss an uprising happening in another part of its own territory. And there are certainly those who may wish to exploit such an opportunity.

• Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement was heavily crushed in 2019 – 2020. But the anti-authoritarian sentiment remains just below the surface. An active Taiwanese insurgency could act as a massive psychological catalyst, proving to Hong Kongers that CCP control can be actively resisted, potentially reigniting civil disobedience.
• Xinjiang’s Uyghur separatist movement is currently kept in check only because Beijing maintains control over the province through an extraordinarily expensive, resource-heavy, high-tech police state designed to suppress the Uyghur population. If Beijing becomes hyper-fixated on a war in Taiwan, it may give the separatist movement the window it needs to properly mobilize.
• Tibet has a decades-long history of resisting Chinese rule. In the event of a chaotic, costly Taiwan war, the Tibetan independence movement could capitalise on China’s distracted military.
• Internal mainstream Han Chinese dissent could be the greatest threat of all. If China becomes entrenched in a messy war that ends up directly threatening its hard-won economic prosperity, there could once again be weeks-long protests across the nation. And this time, they might not be so peaceful.

By overextending its fist to crush Taiwan, the CCP risks loosening its grip on its own borders, potentially turning a war of national unification into a multi-front domestic crisis that could unravel the entire regime from within.

The Hypocrisy of the West

I’m trying to be careful not to moralize on any of these points. I want everyone to be free and live under a just and equitable system. But who really does? I don’t think any of us are there yet.

Many European and North American politicians rightly criticised China for its treatment of the Uyghurs, with many describing the large-scale internment camps as part of a genocidal campaign. I agreed with these criticisms. I want to stand with the Uyghurs and any group suffering oppression by a state or any other body.

When I look at how many European and North American politicians have reacted to the humanitarian catastrophes and atrocities happening in Gaza and Darfur, I can’t help but view their past concern for the Uyghurs as disingenuous. It appears their outrage was less about human rights and more about justifying protectionist policies and countering Chinese economic dominance.

Maybe I’m wrong to say that. I certainly commend whenever people stand up and speak out against oppression. But where are the harsh criticisms and economic consequences for the actors either committing these atrocities or funding the paramilitaries carrying them out? I’m thinking about Israel and the UAE there.

All that said, I am really glad I live in a democracy. In fact, I want to be sure and keep the rights and freedoms that living in a democracy affords us. Which involves speaking my mind from time to time.

The Real Existential Threats We All Face

While the CCP may face serious existential threats if they attempt to take over Taiwan, the truth is that everyone, everywhere, is facing much more serious existential threats posed by climate change and (I suspect) an increasing incidence of severe natural disasters.

Why are we getting mired in pointless conflicts? Why are we not determined to work together to make it through these challenging times?

Why don’t we possess the faith in justice of that lone man clambering on top of a military tank, letting the powers that be know that he won’t stay quiet and just allow them  go about their business when what they are doing is wrong and he knows what is right?

To this day, no one knows the identity or ultimate fate of that brave man. He was eventually pulled away into the crowd, and who he was or what happened to him remains a mystery. I just hope he knew, or somehow knows, that he was seen around the world, and that his actions made an indelible impact.

If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the footage.