Case Study: The Triangular Relationship

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Amuru Serikyaku Professor Conteh-Morgan INR 4931 5 April 2013 The Triangular Relationship: The PRC’s Domestic Security Apparatus, Human Rights Organizations, and Sino-American Relations On June 4th 1989, the People’s Republic of China shocked the world when Deng Xiaoping, then the “paramount leader” of the CCP-controlled state, ordered the massacre of thousands of protesters demonstrating for greater freedoms in Tiananmen Square. Deng Xiaoping and Premier of the State Council, Li Peng, defended the hardlined action by considering the protests, a threat to the political order and stability of the nation. The international response to the incident was largely condemning; the forty-sixth session of the Commission on Human Rights found the CCP’s quelling of the demonstration to be a massive violation of human rights and many nations followed suit with economically and diplomatically punishing policies. The United States, under President George H.W. Bush, sought to suspend military technology exchange contracts with the PRC and leveraged its weight at the international level to impose lending penalties through the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The CCP’s supposed violation of human rights had dire politico-economic consequences, resulting in the rise of Chinese defense spending from 8.6% to 15.5% and a half-billion dollar fall in tourism revenue. Through the example of the Tiananmen Square incident, one can see how the PRC’s use of its domestic security apparatus, the force behind the CCP’s internal stability measures, can challenge international human rights standards set forth by Human Rights Organizations and affect Sino-American diplomatic and economic relations accordingly. Throughout this research paper, I will speci... ... middle of paper ... ...he people’s desperation for democracy? This will very likely change the nature of human rights in China, as democratic regimes have traditionally experienced a greater human rights record. Perhaps the entire notion of human rights will see a fundamental change if the perspective shifts from a Western to an Eastern one as the balance of power shifts with an emerging Chinese hegemon? This paper analyzed Sino-American relations against a single variable: human rights. In many cases, especially in Realism-based diplomacy, the progression of human rights does not take priority over economic interests and the geopolitical balance of power among nations. In the future, it would be beneficial to analyze the effect that these two additional variables would have in the context of Sino-American relations. That being said, human rights do play an extraordinarily important role

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