Minxin Pei

Opinion | China’s bid to intimidate the NBA is a great example of how to lose friends and make enemies

By picking a fight with the NBA, China may have squandered its best example of sports diplomacy with the US. Its bullying behaviour also risks turning more friends into enemies when the US is seeking to contain it

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NBA player Stephen Curry at a training session with middle school students in Wuhan, China, last year. China has dropped the ball when it comes to the NBA and its diplomatic importance. Photo: Xinhua

Minxin Pei

Published: 3:00am, 20 Oct 2019Updated: 11:55am, 22 Oct 2019

The Chinese saying “lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s feet”, or its English equivalent, “to shoot oneself in the foot”, perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. And nothing exemplifies such inclinations so much as China’s effort to bully America’s National Basketball Association.

The row began when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted (and quickly deleted) support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters. The response was swift. China’s government blacklisted the Rockets, cancelled broadcasts of two NBA pregame matches, and instructed Chinese companies to suspend sponsorship and licensing agreements with the NBA.

As the NBA’s largest international market, China expected the league to scurry back into line, apologise for offending the Communist Party and pledge never to repeat the mistake. Initially, the NBA did that.

“We recognise that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable ... We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together,” the NBA’s official statement said.

But this sparked outrage among US lawmakers, who accused the NBA of choosing money over human rights. “No one should implement a gag rule on Americans speaking out for freedom,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted. The NBA threw Morey “under the bus” to protect their market access, Senator Marco Rubio added, calling it “disgusting”.

Under pressure, NBA commissioner Adam Silver then seemed to shift the league’s position. Interviewed by a Japanese news outlet, he said: “Morey is supported in terms of his ability to exercise his freedom of expression.” In the end, China had to back down. The authorities allowed a scheduled NBA exhibition game to be played in Shanghai and ordered state media to play down the controversy. The lesson should be clear: bullying is a sure-fire way to lose friends and make enemies.