[logic]

"I think now, they'd bring out the water canon and remove people with a minimum of deaths if at all possible. "

Don't you mean: I think now, they'd bring out the water canon and remove people with a minimum of PUBLIC deaths if at all possible. Then kill them later....

Not to put words in your mouth or anything..... : )

[Quix]

It would depend on a lot of things.

They really are sensitive to public opinion to a point and in certain contexts and when it involves a significant percentage of the public/grass roots etc.

Li Peng is STILL one of the most hated men in China.

In some respects, the Chinese care little about anything but themselves and their nuclear family and sometimes some parts of their extended family and to put on a front at New Years that the extended family is one harmonious group of warm and fuzzy people.

HOWEVER, in other respects, in certain contexts and contingencies, they are a boiling cauldron underneath the surface and it wouldn't take much to have a mass demonstration spring up and flash into a forest fire.

The leaders would NOT want to trigger undue demonstration and public outcry.

Therefore, they'd want to minimize the deaths and maximize the intimidation.

I doubt they'd want many deaths--especially near to the incident in time or easily tracable to the incident over the next 6-12 months.