[War & Business] Saudi Arabia's 'Sports Washing' Strategy

On the 11th (local time), Charl Schwartzel (fourth from the left), who won the LIV Golf Invitational tournament hosted by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) at the Centurion Club in London, England, climbed the podium and cheered. London, UK ? Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) recently hosted a new golf tournament called LIV, which has been criticized as a typical 'Sports Washing' event. Sports washing literally refers to a strategy of 'washing' a country's image through large-scale sports events, a tactic increasingly used by authoritarian regimes.

Examples include the Chinese government placing an athlete from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as the final torchbearer at the Beijing Winter Olympics held in February, and Qatar hosting the World Cup this November amid human rights controversies. Since Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany first implemented sports washing by hosting the 1936 Berlin Olympics, numerous dictatorships have repeated this tactic.

Saudi Arabia's LIV golf tournament has drawn even more sports washing criticism because it was organized around the time news emerged of U.S. President Joe Biden's possible visit to Saudi Arabia. This event, which removed cutoffs and awarded over 100 million won to the last-place player, is analyzed as focusing more on diplomacy than profitability.

Saudi Arabia has been particularly invested in sports washing since its relations with the U.S. soured over the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. This strategy is seen not only as an attempt to cleanse the country's image but also as a gesture of reconciliation by announcing investments in Western sports clubs.

One of the key projects of 'Saudi Vision 2030,' a reform initiative led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, is the sports industry. The PIF's acquisition of the English Premier League (EPL) club Newcastle United last October is interpreted as part of this strategy.

Attention is now focused on whether the U.S. will firmly grasp the hand extended by Saudi Arabia through sports washing. Above all, the normalization of U.S.-Saudi relations has become a major variable that could determine the course of the Russia-Ukraine war. If major Middle Eastern oil producers led by Saudi Arabia increase production on the U.S.'s request, Russia's 'resource weaponization' strategy, considered its strongest diplomatic tool, is expected to suffer a significant blow.

However, from the perspective of President Biden and the U.S. Democratic Party, which have established international relations with human rights as a key agenda, the backlash from human rights groups?core supporters?is a painful issue. Yet, with the midterm elections in November approaching and approval ratings dropping to the 30% range, there appears to be no choice but to control oil prices, a key factor in curbing inflation. The world is watching closely to see whether the U.S. and Saudi Arabia will achieve a historic grand compromise on human rights and oil prices.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.