American basketball’s tricky relations with China
Human-rights protests threaten profits
ENES KANTER’S campaign against China’s Communist Party has been unrelenting. The basketball star has recently walked into professional games sporting custom shoes that read “Free Tibet”, a slogan that has long raised hackles in Beijing. He has invited the co-founder of Nike, a sportswear firm, to visit “slave labour camps” in China’s north-west (Nike says it does not source products from the region). On November 2nd Mr Kanter, who plays for the Boston Celtics, posted a message for China’s president on Twitter: “Ruthless Dictator XI JINPING...hear me loud and clear: Hong Kong will be FREE!”.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “The audacity of hoops”
Business November 6th 2021
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- American basketball’s tricky relations with China
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- The IT establishment is dressing in new clothes
- Why executives like the office
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