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Opinion | Michael Bloomberg in the White House? China might say thanks, but no thanks
- The billionaire’s history of self-censorship with regard to China is a liability with voters that his rivals in the presidential race would seize on. This would make China-related issues a focus in the election, a turn of event Beijing would not welcome
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You might think former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg’s entry into the 2020 US presidential race would be welcomed by Beijing. Bloomberg has been a compliant capitalist in China for years, especially since he learned his lesson about discussing sensitive topics in 2012.
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After Bloomberg News ran a story on the wealth of then vice-president Xi Jinping’s family, Beijing blocked Bloomberg sites in China and quietly banned state-owned enterprises from buying Bloomberg terminals, his business’s largest revenue generator.
Yet he managed to get back in Beijing’s good graces. It couldn’t have hurt that, in 2013, it was reported that Bloomberg News had spiked a similar story, about “hidden financial ties between one of the wealthiest men in China and the families of top Chinese leaders”. In a further act of simpatico politics, he chose Shanghai for the 2018 launch of his New Economy Forum. The trade war put the kibosh on that – it was moved to Singapore – but this year’s event will be held in Beijing in a couple of weeks.
In September, during an interview on PBS’s Firing Line, Bloomberg stated that Xi was “not a dictator” and that he had to serve “his constituents” or they would somehow scoot him out of office. Xi must have loved this. Bloomberg’s assertion got a few guffaws in the 24-hour American media cycle at the time, but little more came of it. Americans seemed inured to a rich guy censoring himself to avoid the pain of being hit in the wallet by Beijing.
Unfortunately for Bloomberg, however, a bunch of rich basketball players highlighted this phenomenon of self-censorship last month like no politician could. And, now that it looks like he is about to enter the 2020 presidential race, his “not a dictator” comments are likely to come back to haunt him.
Bloomberg’s presence as a candidate can’t be good news for Beijing. It will elevate the issue of the United States’ relationship with China and President Donald Trump will surely pit his record against Bloomberg’s on dealing with Beijing. Health care, education, immigration and guns will be talked about less; Hong Kong, Xinjiang, free speech and missiles will be talked about more.
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