OPINION-COLUMN: NBA- East Asia Watch: The NBA poser – what price to play in China’s court?
Chinese national pride, backed with money, will have to be factored in. But China needs to beware of overkill
.
When Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for anti-government protests in Hong Kong, he may have thought it a harmless gesture, not something that would spark a new firestorm in US-China ties, infuriate many of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 500 million fans in China, and put in jeopardy billions in revenues.
He has since deleted his tweet: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” and expressed regrets: “I did not intend … to cause any offence to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China.”
BELOW IS RESERVE FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT –
.
READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-nba-poser-what-price-to-play-in-chinas-court
.
Benjamin Kang Lim
Currently based in Beijing, Benjamin Kang Lim has worked in China and Taiwan as a journalist for almost four decades. He has broken some of the biggest stories out of the region, including President Xi Jinping’s rise in 2007 when Mr Xi was not on any China watcher’s radar screen. Ben was Reuters Beijing and Taipei bureau chief before joining The Straits Times in 2019. He published a book in Chinese “Taking China’s Pulse” in Taiwan in January 2016 in which he predicted Mr Xi would serve at least three terms. Ben has won more than 10 journalism awards and interviewed many Chinese, Taiwan and Philippine leaders. He regularly speaks at international conferences, including Singapore’s FutureChina Global Forum.
.
BELOW IS RESERVE FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT –
.
.
It's only fair to share...
