USC And China In The News, September and October, 2019

Click here for earlier media notes involving USC faculty, staff and students and China.

October 15, 2019: CBS

USC Sports Business Institute director David Carter was quoted in a report on the NBA dilemma over China. He said, "If you're a player who doesn't fully appreciate what's going on, that could have blowback in the form of companies backing away because they don't want to get into a political firestorm."

October 15, 2019: CBS2

The USC U.S.-China Institute's Clayton Dube was interviewed in a report on fallout over LeBron James's comments regarding the NBA troubles in China. Dube noted that speaking out for social justice was part of James's "brand" and that some might wonder why he can speak truth to power in the U.S., but not elsewhere.

October 15, 2019: Chronicle of Higher Education

Greg Autry of the USC Marshall School of Business was interviewed about a fictional source he and his co-author, Peter Navarro, now director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, employed in their book, Death by China.

October 14, 2019: Voice of America

Stanley Rosen, USC political scientist, and Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute were quoted in at story about the difficulties for American companies doing business in China. They noted that the Chinese government has expanded the red lines companies must observe. Chinese version

October 13, 2019: Sacremento Bee

The USC Marshall School of Business's David Carter was interviewed for a story about the NBA-China tangle. He said that most fans views of the NBA aren't affected by the issue.

October 11, 2019: Los Angeles Business Journal

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was quoted in an article on the impact of the trade war on business planning. “The bigger issue is the higher value-added category and things that are tied to supply chains,” Dube said. “Nobody has a real grasp on this. What people are trying to do is diversify where they are to mitigate the risk in any one location.”

October 10, 2019: Reuters

Stanley Rosen, USC political scientist, was quoted in a story about American companies doing business in China. He said, “[t]hey have tried to do it in such a way that they can make as much money as possible by having access to the China market, but not become so embarrassed by the backlash at home.”

October 9, 2019: Spectrum News 1

The USC U.S.-China Institute's Clayton Dube was interviewed about the issues sparked by the Houston Rockets' general manager's tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests. Dube said that the conflict "speaks to different understandings on what is going on in Hong Kong. Most Americans and most people in Hong Kong understand the demonstrations to be an assertion for civil liberties, continuing to have the right to speak, to assemble, but also asserting the right for a voice in the government.” The Chinese government, he explained, has described the protests as threatening China's unity. Many Chinese agree with that assessment and criticized the Rockets and the NBA.

October 9, 2019: USA Today

USC Sports Business Institute director David Carter was quoted in an article about the the NBA in China. Carter said, “The players are already starting to look disingenuous. On one hand, they are social justice warriors of a certain bend. But at the same time, they are quick to come out and talk about the support of China, which means Beijing and others view as the oppressors in this case. They are walking a fine line.”

October 8, 2019: Los Angeles Times

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was interviewed about the punishment imposed by Activision Blizzard on Ng Wai Chung, a participant in the company's Asia Pacific Hearthstone Grandmaster Tournament. Ng, who goes by the online name Blitzchung, did an interview after his last match in which he pulled on googles and a mask and declared support for the Hong Kong protests. The company banned him for a year and revoked his prize money. Dube noted that “The rules set at the top within China are trickling into these businesses outside of China ... it shows how global these businesses have become and how important China’s market is to the bottom line.”

October 8, 2019: CNN Business

USC Sports Business Institute director David Carter was interviewed about the NBA's "China problem" following a pro-Hong Kong demonstrator tweet by the Houston Rockets general manager. Carter said, "The NBA has to be true to its domestic brand and what it stands for. That's why finding a work-around is critical. If they manufacture a technicality to let [General Manager Morey] go, that's a slippery slope."

October 8, 2019: Washington Post via MSN

Mike Chinoy, USC U.S.-China Institute senior fellow, was interviewed about how perceptions of Hong Kong have changed. He said, “Hong Kong as Asia’s World City is finished. There is no way that Hong Kong can recapture its reputation as an efficient, safe, well governed, orderly place to live and work and do business anymore.”

October 8, 2019: The Street

Greg Autry of the USC Marshall School of Business was quoted in a story about Apple and tariffs. Autry said, "My belief is that [the tariffs] will go forward, whether it goes forward on the current schedule or whether there will be another delay. Just about every company has seen the writing on the wall and tried to remove themselves from being entirely dependent on China."

October 2, 2019: Bloomberg via the Chicago Tribune

An article about the espionage trial of Hao Zhang, a USC alum. Zhang is accused of stealing technology to sell to the Chinese government. Zhang earned his doctorate at USC in 2006. He is accused of working with another USC graduate, Wei Pang. Zhang and Pang taught at Tianjin University. USC Viterbi School of Engineering Professor Eun Sok Kim has previously testified that "reliable, conscientious person who never showed any sign of a deception."

October 2, 2019: Washington Post

USC U.S.-China Institute senior fellow Mike Chinoy was quoted in an article about the lack of trust people in Hong Kong have towards the police there. He said that police actions have "profoundly damaged their standing in Hong Kong society while at the same time being utterly inefficient in the goal of actually curbing the protests."

October 2, 2019: TTV 台湾新闻

Several news outlets covered the visit by Jack Knott, dean of the USC Price School of Public Policy, with Kaohsiung mayor and Kuomintang presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu 韓國瑜。Dean Knott invited Han to visit and speak at USC. UDN, China Times

September 30, 2019: CNN

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was interviewed during China's National Day Parade, noting that in his pre-parade speech and in the military portion of the parade, the Chinese government hit on predictable themes. He also noted that within China the state media message on Hong Kong was that the unrest was driven by a small group, had economic causes and was partly due to foreign meddling.

September 26, 2019: Business Insider

USC political scientist Stanley Rosen was quoted in an article about Chinese censorship actually increasing the number of Hollywood films being shown in China. He said, "Anything that deals with the party history or anything that's at all controversial, especially about the Chinese past, has not been allowed to show in Chinese theatres."

September 23, 2019: Asia Times

An article used the title from and cited information presented in a US-China Today article by Jialin Li and Anna Lipscomb on online dating.

September 20, 2019: Los Angeles Times

USC Marshall School of Business professor Greg Autry published an op-ed praising Pres. Trump’s trade policy toward China, the role of White House official Peter Navarro in pushing it and criticizing media coverage of it. He wrote, “Another benefit of the tariffs has been that many U.S. manufacturers are diversifying their supply chains, moving production out of China. While this is not cost-free for companies, they are making a worthy investment that will ultimately make the global economy far more competitive and resilient. The promising speed at which this is happening must terrify the Politburo in Beijing.” Autry rejects the idea that these trade policies may bring on a recession, concluding “Whenever the next recession invariably arrives — and it looks years away — it won’t have been the administration’s trade policies that caused it.”

September 20, 2019: KCRW

Clayton Dube of the USC U.S.-China Institute was interviewed by Robert Scheer about America’s relationship with China and perceptions of China. "We got a lot wrong. Especially in terms of mass media. China is a large, complex, diverse country. And our understanding of it necessarily needs to be much more nuanced," Dube said.