From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishkowtowkow‧tow /ˌkaʊˈtaʊ/ verb [intransitive] informal BENDto be too eager to obey or be polite to someone in authoritykowtow to We will not kowtow to the government.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
kowtow to• Members of Congress shouldn't be kowtowing to special interest groups.Origin kowtow (1800-1900) Chinese ke tou “to hit your head”; because when you bow very low you hit your head on the floor 