To the opposite

[NewHope]

1） And despite many claims to the opposite = ？
2） given the right issue/circumstances = ？

Context:

The Chinese are hardly human rights advocates for their part, though they're perfectly willing to play the part of helpless victim in this particular scenario. The Chinese government's behavior in allowing (encouraging?) anti-Japan protests, while at the same time trying to quash protests on domestic issues just shows how far China is from being any sort of truly democratic society.

And despite many claims to the opposite, China's nationalistic ideas easily overcome what is in its best economic interests, given the right issue/circumstances. People who claim that China will never turn on the US for economic reasons should pay heed to this fact particularly.

[Tdol]

And despite many claims to the opposite- shows that China's nationalism does not damage its economic interests in the opinion of the writer.
given the right issue/circumstances - this suggests that nationalism is not always the amswer- it depends on the issue