ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses China’s three calculated strategies to influence the geopolitical economy of sport: providing sponsorships; acquiring overseas assets; and hosting mega-events. The chapter contends that China has deliberately and successfully used sports, and their peripheral dealings reinforced by the state’s economic might, to promote and defend national interests for beneficial geopolitical results and national competitive advantage. The chapter uses the Three Axe Strokes Chinese idiom to examine China’s use of sport to challenge America’s incumbent leadership while highlighting the potential drawbacks of its slowing economic growth and insufficient supply of capable candidates to enter and lead international sports governance bodies.
