The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 was an important issue both domestically and internationally for China. After the massacre occurred, Chinese officials desperately tried to prevent the accounts of what happened there from spreading. Foreign journalists saw their film being confiscated, and the government tried to silence them as much as possible. Domestic journalists that supported the protests were removed from their positions and anything they produced, never saw the light of day. The Chinese government released an "official" account of what happened entitled "The Truth About the Beijing Turmoil" that depicts the events that transpired as a "Political turmoil incited by a very small number of political careerists after a few years of plotting and scheming." To this day, the Chinese government keeps a very close watch over the topic, and even blocks searches on the internet.

Generally, western democracies such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Australia, etc heavily condemned the situation. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher expressed "utter revulsion and outrage" at the "indiscriminate shooting of unarmed people." In the United States, Congress passed new sanctions on China and heavily criticized the Chinese government. Americans as a whole saw approval ratings of China drastically drop from 72% to 34%. Economic sanctions and the freezing of loans was a large part of the western democracies backlash at China. The European Union took a different approach, in addition to economic actions, by imposing an arms embargo on China that still stands to this day.

When it came to communist countries or at least ones with socialist leanings, the reception was a mixed bag. East Germany, approved of the Chinese governments actions and sent high ranking politicians on a goodwill tour shortly after. Other members of the Warsaw Pact shared mixed feelings. Romania and Czechoslovakia supported the government's actions whereas Poland and Hungary criticized China. One of the most interesting responses was that of the Soviet Union. Although still a super power, the USSR was getting close to the end of its existence and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev called for "reform." Although the Soviet Union did not explicitly condemn the actions, as they were trying to build upon relations with China but, they were not willing to support it either. In South East Asia, Vietnam quietly supported China to try to better stability between nations despite their past history of tense relations.

Outside of the generic democracy and communist groups were a few other responses. India, ordered its state run television to keep coverage of the incident to a bare minimum as a sign of goodwill to the Chinese hierarchy. Kuwait similarly voiced understanding to promote stability between the nations. The Vatican, had no official statement but Pope John Paul II expressed hope that the situation would bring change.