Loyalty Tests and the Fear of Exposure

by Fedor Vostin

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Beijing's insistence that Taiwanese artists demonstrate political loyalty in exchange for access to the Chinese market is frequently framed as an assertion of sovereignty. It is better understood as a defensive maneuver.

The controversy rests on a confusion—often encouraged—between transaction and structure. Taiwanese artists may earn revenue from Chinese audiences, but the purchasing power of those audiences is not self-generated. China's market operates within a global economic system shaped by external demand, export dependency, and dollar-centered settlement. The money circulates domestically, but its sources lie elsewhere.

Beijing is acutely aware of this reality. China earns enormous revenues from the United States and U.S.-anchored global markets, yet it never demands political loyalty from them. It cannot do so without jeopardizing the very system that sustains its economy. Structural dependence constrains behavior upward.

Pressure therefore moves downward.

Cultural figures—Taiwanese artists, Hong Kong performers, cross-border entertainers—are strategically chosen. They are visible enough to serve as symbols, yet weak enough to discipline without retaliation. Public loyalty performances transform economic participation into a moral obligation, creating the impression that China is the provider and others the beneficiaries.

This is not economic misunderstanding; it is narrative engineering.

By staging loyalty rituals, Beijing attempts to reverse the direction of dependence. The purpose is not obedience for its own sake, but concealment. If the public begins to trace where value originates—through global capital, foreign demand, and external markets—the illusion of self-sufficiency erodes.

The urgency of this concealment grows as geopolitical realities shift. Strategic decoupling is already relocating supply chains and capital flows to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and beyond. The value does not disappear; it moves. China's ability to weaponize market access declines accordingly.

Taiwan, deeply embedded in global networks, is not uniquely tethered to China's domestic market. Beijing knows this. Its escalating loyalty demands reflect not confidence, but fear—fear that dependence will be exposed and leverage will weaken.

A system secure in its position does not discipline entertainers or moralize transactions. The louder the loyalty test, the clearer the anxiety it seeks to suppress.

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