There Is a Price, a Price for Everything

Songwriter Leonard Cohen wrote “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Those are, arguably, the most moving and important words in the English language, the equal of Shakespeare’s best. I hold them dear and, in the current flap with China about their tennis star and her (perhaps) ill-advised #metoo confession of sexual predation by a retired Vice-Premier of the Communist Party, Cohen’s words shine with a particular brilliance.

Peng Shuai is the name of the tennis star and Zhang Gaoli the retired communist official. The world is fascinated by Peng and the Chinese Party heavily invested in the reputation of Zhang.

If this seems a bit of a storm in a teacup, consider what is at stake.

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky come immediately to mind. Quite probably they are very much on the Chinese mind, as these are not the easiest of times for China. The country is struggling through a real-estate crisis approaching trillions of dollars and reeling from having hat…