Here’s a summary of what you can find in my weekly China Digest for SportBusiness:

Official: Xi Jinping to stay on as President past 10-year limit

In China, everything is dominated by politics, which is why the main news of the week – that the ruling Communist Party has proposed removing from the country’s constitution the two-term limit for the President and Vice-President – is still extremely relevant for the sports industry. This change, which had long been rumored and is almost certain to be validated as early as next month, clears the way for Xi Jinping, already viewed as China’s most powerful leader for decades, to stay in power past 2022.

In some sense, this is good news: Xi is known to be a football fan – or is he? – so the country’s long-term soccer reforms plans now look more certain. But as the New Yorker writes:

“China is reentering a period in which the fortunes of a fifth of humanity hinge, to an extraordinary degree, on the visions, impulses, and insecurities of a solitary figure.”

In other words, what Xi says go, and everyone – including those in the sports industry – would do well to keep that in mind.

Wang & Wanda enacting shift in global strategy

One person who is now very much walking to the government’s tune, having had his knuckles rapped last year, is Wang Jianlin, head of the powerful Wanda conglomerate. Wanda came under pressure to sell off many of its assets to ease its debt burden and to refocus on China’s domestic economy, which is why its decision to sell its 17 per cent stake in Atletico Madrid – diluted from 20 per cent after outside investment last year – should come as no surprise, though the Chinese conglomerate will remain a club sponsor, most visibly as title sponsor of the Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Viewed in that context, it also makes perfect sense that Wanda has now, according to Chinese media reports, turned back towards Chinese football instead, buying newly-promoted Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang, which, when finalized, will be renamed Dalian Wanda. Throughout his career, Wang has often liked to make a splash, and appears to have done so immediately, with Dalian set to buy both Belgian international Yannick Carrasco and Argentine international Nico Gaitan from – wait for it – Atletico Madrid (continuing the club’s apparent fire sale, it seems) before China’s transfer window shuts this week.

More selling to come?

It certainly marks a return to spending for the CSL, but given that Wang and Wanda have often set the tone for others to follow, don’t be surprised if other Chinese firms also choose to sell their stakes in European football clubs. For Wanda, attention now turns towards its other overseas sporting properties, most notably the Ironman triathlon franchise and sports marketing agency Infront and whether government pressure back home might also force Wanda to sell those entities, too.

If that does happen, expect something of a domino effect, with plenty of Chinese owners looking to cash out. Unlike Wanda, Wolves owner Fosun has continued its overseas buying spree and even though they may be granted a reprieve once their likely Premier League promotion makes this purchase look very shrewd indeed, even they may be tempted to cash out sooner rather than later.

Alibaba’s Tmall joins Renault’s F1 lineup

Chinese online marketplace Tmall has agreed a sponsorship deal with Formula 1 motor-racing team Renault for the 2018 season, which kicks off in Australia next month. More details about the partnership are expected in March, but new images of the Renault R.S. 18 F1 challenger show Tmall’s “cat” logo featured alongside other sponsors at the front of the car. Launched in 2008, Tmall is now China’s largest third-party platform for brands and retailers, controlling more than half of all retail ecommerce sales in China. Parent company Alibaba has also collaborated with Ford, BMW, Volvo, Maserati and Alfa Romeo, while Tmall lists Nissan and Mitsubishi as strategic partners.

AC Milan’s Li Yonghong clinging on to club

AC Milan’s Chinese boss Li Yonghong has referred to reports he has entered bankruptcy as “fake news”, saying he’s been the target of an unfair campaign since acquiring the club from former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi via the Luxembourg-based Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux in a deal worth €740m ($915m). He is known, though, to have borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars from Elliott Management – with that loan reportedly coming due in October this year – so fake news or not, Li is hardly out of the woods (and more than likely up the creek without a canoe, let alone a paddle). In a faintly desperate statement that is noticeably free of specifics, Li declares that “the situation concerning my assets is safe and sound and that both the Club and my companies are steadily working.” He then asks that “no credit is given” to the latest reports – somewhat ironic, since those reports suggest that Li is the one who is credit free.

Also in this week’s China Digest:

• Alibaba negotiates the minefield of Olympic Games sponsorship rivalries.
• NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says the league may skip Beijing 2022, too.
• One of China’s FIFA World Cup sponsors names Lionel Messi as its brand ambassador.

To read about these stories in full and find other China-related links to topics including Brooklyn Nets‘ new special-edition Jeremy Lin jerseys *in Mandarin*, a look at how the NFL used former boy band star Kris Wu to market itself in China, plus all the coverage of the long-term build-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2022, head to SportBusiness to read the column in full.

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