Washington/Wellington/Beijing: The turf war between the United States and China now cast its shadow over the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. A day after the US announced that it will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Winter Olympics and Paralympics games, China accused Washington on December 7, 2021, of gravely violating the principle of political neutrality enshrined in the Olympic Charter. The US practice, China claimed, runs counter to the Olympic motto of “together” .
With Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympic Games and the Salt Lake City is bidding for the 2030 Winter Olympics, Beijing said the US’ “erroneous actions” had undermined the foundation and the atmosphere for China-US sports exchange and Olympics cooperation — “It is like shooting itself in the foot. The US should be clear about the consequences of its wrong moves”.
The US should stop politicizing sports, and stop disrupting and undermining the Beijing Winter Olympics, lest it should affect bilateral dialogue and cooperation in important areas and international and regional issues, China stated.
The US had cited China’s ongoing “genocide” and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang as the reason for its decision. China claimed that the US has been ” fabricating the biggest lie of the century about so-called “genocide” in Xinjiang, but it has long been debunked by facts”.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said today in Beijing that based on its ideological biases as well as lies and rumours, “the US attempts to interfere with the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will only expose its malicious intention and make it loose more moral principles and credibility”.
He quipped: “Speaking of “genocide”, the US fits this label better than anyone else for the evil crimes they committed against Native Americans.”
China asserted that the Winter Olympics “is not a stage for political posturing and manipulation”.
Citing Olympic rules, Lijian said, according to the rules, officials are invited by their respective National Olympic Committee to attend the Olympic Games. “Whether the US officials will come to the Beijing Winter Olympics and root for their own athletes is the US’ own business. Despite not even being invited, the US side linked its officials’ attendance with the so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang, going down the wrong path further by distorting facts while cheating themselves as well as others. The US political agenda wins no supports and is doomed to fail,” Lijian said.
He went on to point out that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) highly recognizes China’s preparation. He said foreign athletes including a great number of American athletes were eager to come to China for the Games. “We believe that under the guidance of the Olympic spirit and with joint efforts of all sides, we will deliver a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympics to the world,” he said.
Significantly, besides the US, even New Zealand said that will not be sending diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level to the Beijing Winter Olympics. New Zealand though claimed that the move was not due to U.S. decision and mostly has to do with COVID. Lijian though said the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is a grand gathering of winter sports athletes and fans all over the world – “We welcome athletes from all countries, including New Zealand, to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics. We hope that all parties can practice the Olympic spirit of “together” and stop politicizing sports.”
– global bihari bureau
