China's Plan to Get Better on the World Stage Is Simply to Attack Things at the Grassroots Level

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China's national football team is ranked 69th in the world, one spot below North Macedonia. The government has recently resorted to a new strategy of granting Chinese citizenship to foreign players. According to China's football association, as many as seven or eight players are being naturalized. Naturalized players have to give up their original passport in order to take up a Chinese one.

This weekend marks three decades since the wall fell, yet stark divides remain between East and West. We revisit that moment of hope that remains unfulfilled. Ethiopia’s Somali state was until recently the country’s most repressive; a visit to one of its prisons reveals a tremendous transformation for the better. And China’s effort to boost its national football team: naturalising foreign talents. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer