Analyzing regional supremacy and Chinese aspirations through soccer

Oliver Rick
Dept.of Sport Management and Recreation, Springfield College, MA.

At first the potential scope of this text presents itself as an overwhelming task for the editors and authors to address. The role of soccer within Chinese political aspirations has long roots, but also within the complex dynamics of China’s current domestic context and international relations, making the challenges further amplified. However, within the specific remit of the series ‘Sport in East and Southeast Asian Societies’ there is an important focusing of the topic, to which this text is very ably directed.

Covering the internal developments of soccer as part of an ideological project and aspirational model for Chinese growth, the first section of the book provides important grounding to the project. Considering both historical and contemporary perspectives, the chapters cover a significant amount of information, but in a way that locates the discussion overall. There is also an attempt in the selection of chapters by the editors to include points of diplomatic concern around the Chinese Communist Party’s pursuit of a One China policy (Ch. 6, ‘“The Chinese Dream”: Neglected Dimension-Who Is Chinese? Multi-ethnic soccer representation’ by Tobias Zuser and Lawrence Ka-ki Ho) and its orientation towards the position of Taiwan (Ch. 7, ‘Crossing the Penalty Area? The Dynamics of Chinese/Taiwanese Football’ by Tzu-hsuan Chen and Alan Bairner). In the second, third, and fourth sections the book looks to other important national actors in the region to consider the ideas of international relations and the implementation of softpower techniques in establishing regional supremacy.

In contrast, Japan and South Korea played joint hosts to the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2002, something China has been unable to despite Xi Jinping’s declared interest in doing so following his rise to power as leader of the country in the 2010s.

The focus on Korean relations in the second section engages with an important site for discussion around China’s regional relations. With a broad reference to Korean relations, the editors were able to include chapters that address both China’s stance with The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) (Ch. 11, ‘Sport as a Nation Branding Tool in Divided Korea: Soccer, Status, and Softpower’ by Udo Merkel). While the DPRK represents a special relationship with the People’s Republic of China, often playing the role of dutiful ally and dependent, relations with South Korea contrast markedly. As a regional economic power South Korea presents a challenge to Chinese growth, but also the U.S. supported military strength of the country presents broader challenges to Chinese supremacy across East and Southeast Asia (Ch. 10, ‘From Chinese Neurosis to South Korean Nightmare’ by Kyoungho Park and Gwang Ok).

Similarly, the focus on Japan in the third section of the book draws a focus on another of China’s historical and contemporary rivals for economic, military, and political power in the region. While Japan has provided a robust model for economic expansion for countries in the region that China is attempting to replicate at scale, moving from low-cost labor production to a high skilled and advanced production-based economy, their political orientations differ markedly. Japan has established a stable democratic system in the latter half of the 20th and into the 21st century, but it is Japan’s orientation to the west that has increasingly caused concern as China has looked to rebuild the world political order to facilitate its goals. Japan is a central member of international political and economic institutions, currently serving as a non-permanent member on the UN security council in 2023-24 and hosting the G7 meeting in May 2023. However, the biggest concern may be the role of Japan as a strong military location for U.S. interests in the region alongside South Korea, as both nations play host to military bases housing tens of thousands of American troops.

Together, both regional rivals also represent important sporting challenges to China. With Japan and South Korea having both hosted Olympics in the 21st century, and being the home to globally significant sports events, leagues, and teams, they each represent successes China has not always been able to achieve. This is particularly the case with soccer. It is important to recognize the historical role China played specifically in the establishment of the women’s game, playing host to the first edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. However, since this time China has been unable to fully establish itself as an important site in global soccer. In contrast, Japan and South Korea played joint hosts to the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2002, something China has been unable to do, despite Xi Jinping’s declared interest in doing so following his rise to power as leader of the country in the 2010s. In addition, the recent collapse of the Chinese Super League highlighted that while the Chinese attempt at establishing a world class domestic league shone bright in the region, it has been unable to build something enduring in the manner of its Korean and Japanese neighbors (Ch. 12, ‘Japan and China: Overview—Leagues and Clubs’ by Christian Tagsold and Sato Ryohei).

The analyses provided in the chapters throughout these first three sections then can serve in two key roles: 1) they are in depth and nuanced in their analysis; 2) they are addressing pressing and relevant international relations and domestic dynamics that China is navigating through sporting policy. The challenge with this book comes in the final section in which the editors turn our attention toward Australia. Certainly, Australia is an important nation within the South Pacific region, but it stretches the general focus the text has drawn us toward up to this point in focusing on East and Southeast Asian neighbors to China. Australia has engaged in several ways with China economically, politically, and militarily, yet at the same time the contrasting position of the two nations is drastic. Geographically and culturally, there is a significant distance between the two nations. Additionally, the Chinese economy dwarfs Australia, making its trade and finance relationships a relatively small element of China’s international relations activity. In fact, Australia’s biggest place of engagement and rivalry may well be in sport, where despite its diminutive position in comparison to China, Australia has well outperformed its size.

The chapters in this final section therefore succeed in the complexity and depth of their analysis, but largely seem to address a relationship of importance that exists almost exclusively for Australia and not China (Ch. 17, ‘Will Xi Jinping’s China Soccer Dream Become Australia’s Football Nightmare?’ By Steve Georgakis and Andy Harper). In this sense it seems incongruent with the rest of the book and represents the only weak point of the text. Indeed, the biggest disservice the design of the fourth section may represent is in the fact that it hides away a set of important analyses and insights about how Australian sport has and will navigate its relationship with an emerging global superpower, a topic worthy of its own full-length manuscript.

Overall, this text is an important collection of writing from authors that have provided keen insight into how soccer has played an important role over a long period of time for Chinese politics and economics, domestically and internationally. The writing is accessible, but the analyses are complex enough in their nature as to address a wide variety of audiences. For anyone interested in learning more about soccer in China and the role of the sport in mediating Chinese relations with regional partners of importance, this is an essential text and key starting point.

Copyright © Oliver Rick 2023