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| Dennis Rodman back in North Korea: Basketball, the new ping-pong diplomacy? | Dennis Rodman back in North Korea: Basketball, the new ping-pong diplomacy? |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Right now, there are few people in the west who know more about the secretive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, than Dennis Rodman, a former US basketball star with the Chicago Bulls. | Right now, there are few people in the west who know more about the secretive North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, than Dennis Rodman, a former US basketball star with the Chicago Bulls. |
| That both men have struck up a friendship - Kim is huge basketball fan - has probably led to some bemusement in Washington. | That both men have struck up a friendship - Kim is huge basketball fan - has probably led to some bemusement in Washington. |
| Nonetheless, Rodman has accepted an invitation from Pyongyang to return to to see his "friend for life", and this time he's taken a team of ex-NBA stars to play a charity exhibition match to mark Kim Jong-Un's birthday. | Nonetheless, Rodman has accepted an invitation from Pyongyang to return to to see his "friend for life", and this time he's taken a team of ex-NBA stars to play a charity exhibition match to mark Kim Jong-Un's birthday. |
| Accused by critics of helping to legitimise the pariah regime, Rodman and his supporters have hit back, citing "ping-pong diplomacy" between the US and China in the 1970's as an example of how sport can thaw relations between hostile countries. | |
| For Rodman's band of sporting emissaries, the North Korean trip, although not backed by Washington, will feel just as groundbreaking to them as it did to the US table tennis team who played exhibition matches in communist China over forty years ago. | For Rodman's band of sporting emissaries, the North Korean trip, although not backed by Washington, will feel just as groundbreaking to them as it did to the US table tennis team who played exhibition matches in communist China over forty years ago. |
| The historic sporting tour of 1971 largely came about after a conversation at the Nagoya championships when two players, one Chinese the other American, put aside politics to talk about sport. On hearing about the fraternisation, China's Chairman Mao Zedong, perhaps sensing a propaganda coup, decided to drop the 'down with American imperialism' rhetoric and invited a US team to play in China. To his surprise the Americans agreed. | The historic sporting tour of 1971 largely came about after a conversation at the Nagoya championships when two players, one Chinese the other American, put aside politics to talk about sport. On hearing about the fraternisation, China's Chairman Mao Zedong, perhaps sensing a propaganda coup, decided to drop the 'down with American imperialism' rhetoric and invited a US team to play in China. To his surprise the Americans agreed. |
| Although the Guardian welcomed China's attempts to 'come in from the cold' and engage with the west, the paper's leader column urged caution. | Although the Guardian welcomed China's attempts to 'come in from the cold' and engage with the west, the paper's leader column urged caution. |
| Relations between the US and China were already improving before the world's press got a hold of "ping-pong diplomacy". However, President Nixon, eager to build closer ties with China after the damage done to US foreign policy from the Vietnam war, travelled to Beijing in February 1972. He became the first US President to set foot in mainland China while in office, later describing his trip as "the week that changed the world". | Relations between the US and China were already improving before the world's press got a hold of "ping-pong diplomacy". However, President Nixon, eager to build closer ties with China after the damage done to US foreign policy from the Vietnam war, travelled to Beijing in February 1972. He became the first US President to set foot in mainland China while in office, later describing his trip as "the week that changed the world". |
| The important diplomatic steps that both countries made in the 1970's owed something to the courage shown by the Chinese table tennis player Zhuang Zedong, who ignored team orders to strike up a conversation with his American counterpart in Nogoya. The Guardian published Zhuang Zedong's obituary following his death in 2013. | The important diplomatic steps that both countries made in the 1970's owed something to the courage shown by the Chinese table tennis player Zhuang Zedong, who ignored team orders to strike up a conversation with his American counterpart in Nogoya. The Guardian published Zhuang Zedong's obituary following his death in 2013. |
| Published in the Guardian on 14 Feb 2013. Click on image to read in full. | Published in the Guardian on 14 Feb 2013. Click on image to read in full. |
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