WI the Chinese Empire opposed the Boxers and not support them

[MI1/2]

What if China never supported the Boxers and keep fighting them and defending foreigners and it's religious missions instead of militarily supporting the Boxer Rebellion never declaring war on Eight Nation Alliance ?

 

[Hearkener]

The Qing were probably right in their assessment that the Chinese, not imperialist Europeans, were the greatest threat to their rule. Opposing the Boxers would have done nothing for their foreign standing: the Westerners basically expected to be invulnerable anyway, and thought it was their right to have the local government defend them. China won't escape the image of being Oriental primitives by scraping and bowing to the imperialists.

So they crush the Boxers, and only end up more hated by their own population, which will further stoke anti-Qing sentiments. They'd probably fall sooner, rather than later.

 

[Grey Wolf]

I imagine they looked at them and saw traces of the Taiping. Allowing your own people to rise against you requires you to have the force to put them down yourself. If they can't they would have to rely on foreigners, whose actions etc is behind what is happening in the first place.

 

[Avrorrange]

The Qing were probably right in their assessment that the Chinese, not imperialist Europeans, were the greatest threat to their rule. Opposing the Boxers would have done nothing for their foreign standing: the Westerners basically expected to be invulnerable anyway, and thought it was their right to have the local government defend them. China won't escape the image of being Oriental primitives by scraping and bowing to the imperialists.

So they crush the Boxers, and only end up more hated by their own population, which will further stoke anti-Qing sentiments. They'd probably fall sooner, rather than later.

The Boxers were by no means supported by the vast majority of the population. Supporting the Boxers in fact caused a major split in the country with all of the provinces to the South and East declaring they had nothing to do with the Boxers and that the Westerners are free to crush the Boxers and the Central government while they are at it. IIRC, even in Beijing itself, the local residents were actually relieved at the Western occupation since they were quite sick of the Boxers, who behaved little more than rioters and the Western armies by comparison were much better behaved and even paid for supplies.