How would the world react today, if the Chinese regime committed another Tiananmen Square style massacre?

I think it might be a little harder for them to get away with now…. But in general the big countries in the UN (UK, US, Russia, China, and to some degree France, Germany, and Japan) can get away with about anything they want.

A massacre of that magnitude and press though would likely “spend” their political “capital” much the way Bush going to war in Iraq spent a lot of the US’s capital with world nations.

‘Bout the same as last time, I’d expect. Since China has a permanent seat on the Security Council, they’re not likely to pass sanctions against themselves, are they?

I’d imagine that if Libya had a seat there, then last week’s resolution wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in the Sahara, either.

Numerous Libyan ambassadors have disassociated themselves from Gaddafi over the past few days, including the one at the UN.

If the Chinese regime used machine guns to massacre 3000 people, the same could happen. Or could it not?

Like most ‘outrages’ today, the outrages lasts about a day until the next episode of American Idol or Survivor comes on, and it is quickly whisked away out of sight and out of mind.

The US would “tsk, tsk” but do nothing. China now holds more than $1.7 Trillion (2010) in US Securitues. They could devastate the dollar any time they wish – and will do so when they are ready.
Thank you, Harbor Freight, WalMart shoppers, et. al.

@worriedguy I was going to have to use facts from my memory to say you’re wrong, but thankfully yahoo had an article today. http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/112189/who-owns-the-us?mod=bb-debtmanagement China holds 891 Billion in US debt, or $0.891 trillion.

Also, those debts are owned in bonds, which can’t be cashed out for some length of years (I believe 20) from their original purchase date.

So if the US does nothing no matter what, this basically means mowing down Libyans has consequences, while mowing down Chinese people does not. I wonder how do politicians who truly care about ethical behavior and sticking to our core values explain these kinds of double standards to their voters?

What should we do, @mattbrowne? If I recall correctly, we made the same “tut, tut now” motions toward the Chinese government in 1989 that we’re making against the Libyans now. It’s not as if we’ll send in the Marines (again) to either place (again).

Aside from that, it’s pretty far out there as even a hypothetical question. China has changed a tremendous amount in the past 20 years. The majority of Chinese that I’ve spoken with privately, without monitoring, both here and abroad, more or less support their government. Maybe even more than most Americans support theirs, in fact.

I’m hopeful that the Chinese political establishment can move slowly toward liberalization. They certainly aren’t the North Koreans, or even the former Soviets.

@tedd I found a 2010 article that stated the published $800–900B numbers are grossly underestimated. “Under the widely held assumption that 70 percent of China’s $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves is invested in dollar-denominated bonds, Mr. Prasad told the commission that China probably holds about $1.7 trillion in U.S. government debt….when you include $400 B Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose obligations are liabilities of the U.S. government,
Washington times

Add to that another 400–500B from just last year and you’re talking a lot of dollars under their control.

Good question, my dearest hope is that China evolves into a fully functioning democracy with credible socialist leanings and that Tibet becomes fully autonomous, but i feel it could be bloody and that would be a scary prospect, therefore, one reluctantly accepts the status quo for now. Sadly this kind of transition needs time.

@worriedguy Even assuming that they own 2 trillion dollars in our debt… or all of it even….. Their economy is directly linked to ours, and cashing all that in to purposely crash our economy, would also ruin their own. They lack the consumer base in their own country to match the one they have here in the US, and probably always will.

@WasCy – Keep up a certain pressure. I’m not talking about sending marines. I’m talking of not allowing China to blackmail the US. The US-China economic tandem is also beneficial to the Chinese.

Plus, why not set up future manufacturing alternatives in North Africa? The young people there deserve this. They need economic opportunities. A little competition here would be a good thing.