Jeremy Lin, the Chinese-American basketball player, on Wednesday bid farewell to the NBA and signed to play with the Beijing Shougang Ducks in the upcoming season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). On August 16, Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai bought the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the team's arena, the Barclay Center. Tsai is taking full ownership of the Brooklyn Nets.
Lin's joining the CBA and Tsai's purchase of an NBA team both reflect the power of China's rising. The Chinese mainland has become increasingly attractive to Chinese-Americans overseas. Today, Chinese people are playing a more important role in basketball and other fields worldwide.
China launched its reform and opening-up in 1978 and invited an American basketball team to Beijing one year later. Since then, Chinese people have come to appreciate the high skill level of world-class basketball players. Decades have passed, and China has fostered a number of outstanding basketball stars, such as former NBA player Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian. Basketball was invented in 1891 in the US and remains popular among the American people, but today Chinese people are also playing the sport, and playing it well.
Such progress is the result and rule of globalization. China's increasing role in basketball is closely related to the country's reform and opening-up over the past four decades. By complying with the trend of globalization and learning from other countries, China has gained much competitiveness in the 21st century.
China's development in basketball is partly because of learning from the US. It is also a result of Chinese people's diligence. This reminds people of the national strength of China and the US today. Although there is still a gap between China and the US, the gap has greatly narrowed. But this should not be the reason why the US wants to decouple with China. The US should increase its own competitiveness, as decoupling with China will not help.
Today, the US may need to learn from China in some areas. Washington must adapt its thinking to the current situation. It needs to respect the trend of globalization, rather than resorting to unilateralism and swimming against the dominant tide in the world.
Besides, US allies will not completely follow the US order. They will make their own choice instead of being pawns of the US. Take Huawei for example.
Washington has been trying to rope in its allies to suppress Huawei, but Washington's allies understand that saying no to Huawei means falling behind in 5G technology. China is not afraid of US pressure, because China has improved its competitiveness.
Likewise, the US should not blame China for weakening the US strength. In basketball, for example, Washington should improve its own competitiveness. Only in this way can US basketball and the world's basketball develop better. The philosophy of the development of basketball is also applicable to other fields.
