Bloomberg Businessweek January 27, 2020
47says.AnNBAspokespersonsaysnobodyattheleagueread
theletterbeforeit waspublished.“Hedidn’taskmypermis-
sion,andI certainlydidn’tthinkit wasmyroletograntit or
withholdit,”Silversays.“Heonlytoldmethatheplanned
topostsomething,andI readit wheneveryoneelsedid.”
The745-wordletterendeavoredtoexplainhowChinese
NBAfansfeltaboutMorey’stweet.It settheprotestsinHong
KongamidcenturiesofimperialistaggressionagainstChina,
datingtothemid-19th-centuryOpiumWarswiththeBritish
andcontinuingthroughthemassacrecarriedoutduringWorld
WarII bytheJapaneseatNanjing.“Therearecertaintop-
icsthatarethird-railissuesincertaincountries,”Tsaiwrote.
“Supportinga separatistmovementina Chineseterritoryis
oneofthosethird-railissues,notonlyfortheChinesegovern-
ment,butalsoforallcitizensinChina.”TheHongKongpro-
testshadbeguninJuneafterthecity’spro-ChinaCEO,Carrie
Lam,putfortha billthatwouldallowextraditionstothe
mainland.Morethana millionpeople,roughly1 in7 ofthe
city’sresidents,tooktothestreets,decryingthemeasureas
a violationofthe 1997 handoveragreementbetweenBritain
andChina,whichestablisheda “onecountry,twosystems”
policyallowingthecitytokeepitscivillibertiesandself-
governance until 2047. Lam withdrew the bill in September,
but the protests have continued, calling for, among other
things, a more democratic city government and accountabil-
ity for violent tactics by police, who’ve been documented
shooting at, clubbing, and trying to run over demonstrators.
Nathan Law, a leader of pro-democracy protests that took
place in Hong Kong in 2014, takes issue with Tsai’s charac-
terization of the current situation. “This is not a separatist
movement,” says Law, who’s now studying for a master’s
degree in East Asian studies at Yale. “Supporting Hong Kong
doesn’t mean that you are completely anti-China or that you
want China to be split.” He argues that Tsai either misun-
derstood this or deliberately adopted the Chinese govern-
ment’s rhetoric.
“He really followed the lines of the official Chinese
Communist Party position on this subject very closely,” says
Steve Tsang, director of the University of London’s SOAS China
Institute. Others, including Republican Senator Ben Sasse of
Nebraska, in a Washington Post op-ed, have also noted how
closely Tsai’s words hewed to Beijing’s.
“I believe that there are strains of separatism, because they
don’t want to have anything to do with China,” Tsai says in
defense of his letter. “They are very anti-China, burning the
Chinese flag, beating up people who speak Mandarin, vandal-
izing Chinese-owned shops.” In his estimation, although the
protests may have begun as a peaceful effort to strengthen
the “two systems” part of the handover agreement, they’ve
since morphed into a violent attempt to undermine the “one
country” part. “People should think very seriously about say-
ing that it’s not a separatist movement,” he says. “I think they
should look at the facts.”
It’s true that, as the protests have roiled, there have
been instances of flag burning, vandalism, and attacks on
mainlanders. And the movement does include voices who
reject the idea of being part of China. It’s also largely leader-
less, with shifting and inchoate demands that revolve primar-
ily around calls for freedom and democracy.
Tsai stands to lose a great deal if he alienates Beijing.
He remains closely involved with Alibaba, which, like all of
China’s internet giants, exists because the Communist Party
allows it to. “Once Alibaba became so big and became, in
effect, adopted by the Chinese government as the next new
champion,” Tsang says, “Tsai must realize that, whether he
believes in it or not, he will have to show very clear commit-
ment to the course of the Chinese party state.” Tsai’s back-
ground, Tsang adds, makes him particularly vulnerable. “He
must know that the fact that he was born in Taiwan puts him
in a more awkward position. The Chinese government will
trust him less for no reason other than his place of birth and
early upbringing.”
If Tsai is feeling the pinch, he’s not letting on. “I feel free
to speak my own mind and indeed did so in my Facebook
post,” he says. After it went live, he remembers, “there were
a lotofpeopletrollingme,butthenthepeoplethatknowme
haveallcomeuptomeandsaid,‘Look,Joe,I’mreallyglad
youwrotethis,becauseI didn’tknowaboutallthishistory.’”
His outspokenness might even have won the Nets some fans
in China. On Weibo, one of the country’s most popular social
media services, thousands cheered his letter. “I will support
the Nets in the future,” wrote one. “Though I don’t like Durant
and Irving, I will try to let myself like them.”
Tsai says he’s not looking to supplant the Rockets as China’s
team. “If the Nets are very well-known in China, maybe we will
get a little bit more sponsorship revenue, maybe some Chinese
company will have signs here instead of Qatar Airways,” he
says, pointing to ads ringing the rafters at Barclays. “But that
doesn’t really move the needle. What’s important is if the NBA
is very popular in China.”
During the preseason game in Shanghai, Ma joined Tsai and
Silver in their suite. “I encouraged them to keep on. Pingpong
used to be very good for diplomatic relations between China
and the USA, and I think today basketball could be,” Ma says.
“Don’t give up because of one or two issues. It’s easy to break,
but so difficult to build up.”
Tsai is eager to see NBA games back on CCTV. Although
Tencent has begun showing them again, the state-owned
broadcaster has yet to budge. A person familiar with the
matter says the league is optimistic the network will relent,
beginning with the All-Star Game on Feb. 16—there’s no
ready replacement, after all, for LeBron James and Giannis
Antetokounmpo.
“Once you are on the air,” Tsai says, “everything will come
back.” In the meantime he’s enjoying the perks of owner-
ship. Down below the skybox, the gates have opened, and
fans have started to fill the seats. A few guests arrive at Tsai’s
suite. “I love coming to games,” he says. He chats with play-
ers any chance he gets. “I’m just like a fan. I’m a superfan.” <BW>
�With Qian Ye