{"id":51365,"date":"2019-10-21T10:30:12","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T23:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=51365"},"modified":"2019-10-21T09:42:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T22:42:24","slug":"how-china-loses-friends-and-alienates-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-china-loses-friends-and-alienates-people\/","title":{"rendered":"How China loses friends and alienates people"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The Chinese folk saying \u2018lift a rock only to drop it on one\u2019s own feet\u2019, or its English equivalent, \u2018to shoot oneself in the foot\u2019, perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. And nothing exemplifies such inclinations so much as China\u2019s recent effort to bully<\/a> America\u2019s National Basketball Association.<\/p>\n

The row began when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted (and quickly deleted) support for the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong: \u2018Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.\u2019 The response was swift. China\u2019s government blacklisted the Rockets, ordered the state-run television network to cancel broadcasts of two NBA preseason matches, and instructed Chinese companies to suspend their sponsorships and licensing agreements with the NBA.<\/p>\n

As the NBA\u2019s largest international market, China expected the league to scurry back into line, apologise for offending the Chinese Communist Party, and pledge never to repeat the mistake. And, initially, the NBA did just that. \u2018We feel greatly disappointed at [Morey\u2019s] inappropriate speech, which is regrettable\u2019, the league said<\/a> in a statement. \u2018We take respecting Chinese history and culture as a serious matter.\u2019<\/p>\n

But that attempt to kowtow to China sparked outrage among US lawmakers, who accused the NBA of choosing money over human rights. \u2018No one should implement a gag rule on Americans speaking out for freedom\u2019, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted<\/a>. The NBA threw Morey \u2018under the bus\u2019 to protect its market access, Senator Marco Rubio added<\/a>, calling the move \u2018disgusting\u2019.<\/p>\n

Under pressure, NBA commissioner Adam Silver then seemed to shift the league\u2019s position. In an interview with a Japanese news outlet, he said<\/a>, \u2018Morey is supported in terms of his ability to exercise his freedom of expression.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the end, it was China that had to back down. The authorities allowed a previously scheduled NBA exhibition game to be played in Shanghai\u2014to the cheers of thousands of Chinese fans\u2014and ordered state media to play down the controversy. The lesson should be clear: bullying is a surefire way to lose friends and make enemies in the West.<\/p>\n

China may be a lucrative market for the NBA, which has reaped billions of dollars in revenue through broadcasting and merchandise-licensing deals in the country. But the NBA is also a very valuable friend to China. Its relationship with the league is one of the great successes in its cultural and commercial relations with the United States, and a powerful example of Sino-American \u2018sports diplomacy\u2019.<\/p>\n

Such diplomacy has a storied history in US\u2013China relations. During the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan, the US player Glenn Cowan boarded a shuttle bus with the Chinese national team. Rather than avoid him, as the Chinese team had been instructed to do, its top player, Zhuang Zedong, initiated a conversation with the American (through an interpreter). The two players even exchanged gifts\u2014an act of goodwill that garnered significant positive media attention.<\/p>\n

Recognising the diplomatic opportunity, Chairman Mao Zedong invited the US team for an all-expenses-paid visit to China. The heavily documented trip\u2014which included tours of important sites, exhibition ping-pong matches, and even an audience with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai\u2014opened the way for the two governments to begin back-channel communications and, eventually, to normalise bilateral relations.<\/p>\n

Mao and US President Richard Nixon didn\u2019t squander the opportunity that sports diplomacy presented. But, by picking a fight with the NBA, Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s government could well have. At a time when Sino-American relations are in freefall, that\u2019s the last thing China needs.<\/p>\n

To some extent, China\u2019s response was probably a hubris-induced miscalculation. The government has effortlessly bullied some of the world\u2019s largest and best-known companies into submission after they offended its delicate political sensitivities. (Apple<\/a> and Marriott International<\/a> listed Chinese territories, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, as separate countries; Cathay Pacific Airways<\/a>, Hong Kong\u2019s flagship airline, didn\u2019t prohibit its employees from participating in pro-democracy protests.)<\/p>\n

China has used similar tactics to pressure Western governments into bending to its will. For example, it cut off high-level exchanges and curtailed business dealings with France, Germany and the United Kingdom when they hosted the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n

Similarly, after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010, China suspended<\/a> salmon imports from Norway (though the Norwegian government has no influence over the Nobel committee\u2019s decision). China ended up getting its way in nearly all of these showdowns, with Western actors expressing remorse and seeking to regain China\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

But hubris is only part of the story. Chinese officials have strong incentives to demonstrate their loyalty to the regime, even at the expense of strategic objectives. The resulting modus operandi\u2014called \u2018ning zuo wu you<\/em>\u2019,<\/em> which loosely translates to \u2018rather left than right\u2019\u2014influences most official calculations. The decision to bully the NBA was more than likely taken by a party apparatchik eager to curry favour with CCP superiors.<\/p>\n

With intimidation hardwired into the Chinese system, such self-defeating behaviour is likely to continue\u2014and cost the CCP dearly. The more friends China turns into enemies, whether out of hubris or instinct, the easier it will be for the US to assemble a broad coalition to contain its power and ambitions. At that point, the Chinese bully\u2019s favourite tactic for defending its interests will become even less effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chinese folk saying \u2018lift a rock only to drop it on one\u2019s own feet\u2019, or its English equivalent, \u2018to shoot oneself in the foot\u2019, perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. And nothing exemplifies …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":584,"featured_media":51367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,772,526,2244],"class_list":["post-51365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-geopolitics","tag-soft-power","tag-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow China loses friends and alienates people | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/how-china-loses-friends-and-alienates-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How China loses friends and alienates people | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Chinese folk saying \u2018lift a rock only to drop it on one\u2019s own feet\u2019, or its English equivalent, \u2018to shoot oneself in the foot\u2019, perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. 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