Criticizing China for not living up to its stated commitments on human rights and press freedom is easy. So easy, in fact, that in some quarters of the international community Beijing seems to elicit something approaching sympathy simply for being under tremendous pressure.
This is even more the case now with the Beijing Olympics on the horizon. And this sympathy can only increase as expressions of genuine excitement among many ordinary Chinese offset the ugly reality of the forced evictions and wild corruption that has accompanied preparations for the Games.
If sympathy is to be directed toward anyone in China, it is these ordinary people, whose pride can be a positive force for not only the image of China that they project to the rest of the world, but also for constructive change to their own country. It is at this level that the Olympics can redeem themselves in the face of government and corporate abuses.
Sadly, this seems to apply less and less to Chinese sportspeople themselves as the Games approach.
Agence France-Presse reported on Wednesday that the Chinese men's soccer team made a public pledge as part of its struggle to advance to the next round of Asia's World Cup qualifiers.
It included this astonishing wording: "I pledge to advance to the World Cup, which is the professional goal that we strive for. We swear by death to kill along the bloody road of defending the honor of the motherland and realize our youthful dreams."
Because this is China, and because China is often not held to the same standard of sportsmanship by international sports authorities, we cannot expect FIFA, the global governing body for soccer, to investigate the matter.
This is noteworthy. For while in isolation the Chinese soccer players come across as insecure and more than a little ridiculous intoning such language, as part of the bigger picture -- in which government expectations/interference and extravagant US$1 million bonuses come into view -- there is reason yet again to be concerned about what it means for Chinese to participate in international tournaments.
Unhappily for the Chinese soccer squad, key matches in the World Cup qualifiers coincide with the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, which can only increase the pressure on them. Worse, they are in the unofficial "group of death" with three formidable rivals, and only two teams will advance.
Now, after reciting a pledge that would not look out of place in Iran or North Korea, it seems that the Chinese have taken an expression derived from gallows humor rather too seriously.
Of all sports, soccer is the most notorious for the violence that can accompany domestic and international fixtures. But very rarely is this violence a weapon that is directly stoked by national soccer authorities or by governments. It is hoped that this will not change in this case.
But the Chinese team has an unenviable record on the pitch, and its supporters have an equally unenviable reputation for sore losing -- particularly against other Asian teams. With nationalist sentiment growing as August nears, international soccer fans will be witness to a test: Can the Chinese soccer squad conduct itself in a manner more civilized than the public pledges it considers necessary to win matches?
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017