Obedience, Ambiguity, and Punishment: The Chinese Military at Tiananmen Revisited

As this article goes to press, security officials in Iran are carefully weighing their options on how to dole out violence to preserve an authoritarian system. It is an existential moment for any authoritarian regime, and one that Chinese leader Xi Jinping must be watching closely. He strongly believes the People’s Liberation Army must be prepared to defeat any enemies within the elite, among the Chinese population, or overseas.

Given the military’s fundamental role in the designs of one of the world’s most powerful men, outside observers have watched carefully as rolling purges continue to hit high-ranking officers.Suddenly and unexpectedly, The post Obedience, Ambiguity, and Punishment: The Chinese Military at Tiananmen Revisited appeared first on War on the Rocks .