And so we see China imposing its censorship on the world.
An attack on Mao Zedong and, by extension, the Chinese Communist Party itself has come through an unexpected avenue – an ephemeral media comment by an internationally famous French soccer player that was published on 26 October. It cut deep, all the more because the party was holding the Fifth Plenum of the 20th its central committee, with a firm focus on loyalty to party secretary Xi Jinping.
The party’s reaction was fierce and effective. In the end, it has enforced its law that those who make money from China will do as it says. The party started the week embarrassed. It ended the week with yet greater authority over those who fear its wrath.
In a widely circulated interview, the Real Madrid player Kylian Mbappe made an offhand comment about one of the many ‘Dictator’ caricatures that circulate about him on social media. It showed his face photoshopped onto the body of ‘some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator’. The illustrated meme showed the figure to be Mao, the CCP leader who founded the People’s Republic of China. Mbappe had earlier acknowledged the humour of being depicted as a ‘dictator’ on the football pitch. Though he understandably noted, ‘there’s also a part that’s a little less funny, because we know the damage that people like that have caused throughout history …. Being compared to people who murder others, or who have made millions and millions of people miserable … I don’t think I’ve done that in my life.’
China’s reaction was immediate and devastating. Responses began in the social media realm with supporters criticising Mbappe. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson then said his ‘remarks and deeds … hurt Chinese people’s feelings’. Chinese companies began to weigh in. Beverage giant Dongpeng, which has used Mbappe in advertising, said it was terminating all cooperation with the player. Dairy giant Mengniu and cheese producer Mikground also said they were cutting their links with the player. Chinese state television then suspended the broadcast of the Spanish league’s matches, jeopardising its international development strategy.
Like so many sports clubs and players in recent years, the response to China’s bullying from Real Madrid, LaLiga, Mbappe and the western world has been rather embarrassing. It has empowered Beijing.
Mbappe formally apologised yesterday for hurting ‘many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world.’ The latter phrase, as well as the included Chinese translation, suggest that this apology was negotiated with the CCP, which aims to conflate any criticism of the CCP with the Chinese people.
Faced with a boycott in China following the controversy, there were also apologies from LaLiga and its president, Javier Tebas. Real Madrid added its own apology. Negotiations continue, with Tebas meeting China’s ambassador to Spain to ‘seek solutions.’
The reason for the apology is not that anyone actually thinks Mao is not a dictator. It is money. Beyond the pure greed aspect, the saga offers two insights:
First, this is the latest is a long history of examples where China utilises its massive financial power to ensure that commentary on China by global sporting figures is in accord with the China story required by the CCP-PRC.
Whether it was Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posting a tweet in 2019 supporting the Hong Kong protests, leading to China suspending sponsorship of the NBA, or Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil posting a message criticising China’s mass detention and religious crackdown against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, resulting in suspension of broadcasts of his team’s games, China uses its financial muscle to demand adherence to the party’s national story. China’s use of financial punishment was also seen when Celtics basketballer Enes Kanter advocated Tibetan independence (and incidentally also called Xi Jinping a dictator) in 2021, and when Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi was perceived to have insulted China by failing to play in Hong Kong in 2024.
In such circumstances, clubs and companies that agree to China’s demands for apology are selling more than their products. Bending to such economic coercion by apologising, accepting and essentially validating China’s versions and judgements is akin to paying a ransom to kidnappers. Submission will encourage further demands and expectations. Those who sell their products or their games to China should not sell their values. This also takes political leadership, since many companies will choose money over principles. We should in some ways learn from the sports boycotts of South Africa during the apartheid era. The public in other countries like western sports. Democratic governments should work with their major sporting codes to sign agreements which prevent such responses to any foreign government demands.
Second, is that the Mbappe incident reveals the fragility of the CCP. While earlier criticisms and responses noted above related to China’s national policies and claims, the Mbappe comments strike at the very heart of the system, the legitimacy of the party. When one of the world’s most famous sportsmen, across China and beyond, refers to Mao – who was China’s paramount leader from 1949 to 1976 and is still revered as a CCP demi-god –- as a dictator, the reverberations shock the foundations of the party.
Scholars such as Frank Dikotter have written tomes clearly depicting the brutal mechanisms of state control, mass mobilisation and systemic violence seen under the classic Leninist dictator Mao, leading to the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese citizens. However, the audience in China for such erudite English-language scholarship is miniscule. Comments on Mao by one of the most famous international footballers of the current age carry much more weight within modern China. That is why his claims have been censored across the entire system. That domestic censorship is controlled by China. In issuing grovelling apologies we are also letting China censor us and control our freedoms.
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