IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijdipe/v11y2025i2p124-137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

After nearly 50 years of Ping-Pong Diplomacy: does the tense contemporary US-China relationship need a return to sports diplomacy?

Author

Listed:
  • Mohamad Zreik

Abstract

Sports have historically bridged gaps that wars, politics and economics could not. Ancient rulers turned to sports to mend fractured ties between kingdoms and empires. A prime example is 'Ping-Pong Diplomacy'. In the early 1970s, amidst strained US-China relations, an unexpected interaction between Glenn Cowan (US) and Zhuang Zedong (China) at the World Table Tennis Championships Catalysed US President Nixon's visit to China, rekindling diplomatic ties. However, five decades later, US-China relations are again under strain. Amidst a backdrop of trade wars and political tensions, this paper explores the potential of sports diplomacy in mending US-China relations, asking: 'Can sports diplomacy reset US-China relations?' Drawing from primary and secondary sources, this study highlights the pivotal role sports played historically and suggests that sports diplomacy might again be the tool to reorient the trajectory of US-China ties.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamad Zreik, 2025. "After nearly 50 years of Ping-Pong Diplomacy: does the tense contemporary US-China relationship need a return to sports diplomacy?," International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(2), pages 124-137.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijdipe:v:11:y:2025:i:2:p:124-137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=145647
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ids:ijdipe:v:11:y:2025:i:2:p:124-137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=394 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.