Beijing Olympics to build a ‘peaceful and better world through Olympic ideal.’

Published:January 24,2022

By staff writer

The Beijing 2022 opening ceremony rehearsal was conducted at the National Stadium, or the “Bird Nest,” on Jan 22, 2022. About 4,000 participants were involved in the all-factor rehearsal, preparing for the opening ceremony to be held on February 4. [Photo/Xinhua]

The 76th annual session of the UN General Assembly, adopted a resolution, “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”, in December last year, calling for the observance of Olympic Truce for the 2022 Winter Games. According to the resolution, the observance of the truce should take place from seven days before the beginning of the Olympic Games on Feb 4, until seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games on Feb 20. This calls for countries even at war countries to cease fire.

The U.S however, has not put aside its hostility and propaganda against China by trying to politicize the Olympic Games. First, the U.S announced that it would not send government officials to the Beijing 2022Winter Olympics as a protest against Human Rights abuses in China more specifically the Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region. Of recent, it has emerged that athletes from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, and Canada, have been advised by the Olympic committees of their respective countries to leave their phones and laptops at home and use “burner phones” instead to avoid “cyber surveillance” and “digital espionage” by China.

Anti- China propaganda has been spread by U.S and its allies that My 2022 smartphone app — developed by a Chinese company and approved by the International Olympic Committee to monitor the health of attendees, coaches and officials — has technological loopholes and thus is vulnerable to hacking.

During the winter Olympic games held in Japan last year, a report by Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation reveals that   over than 450 million cyber-attacks were attempted during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, yet athletes were not advised not to take their electronic devices. The advice to theathletes from the countries mentioned, is a deliberate effort to discredit China as responsible for hacking. On the other hand, this is part of a wider political campaign in a technological war between U.S and China. 

Wang Yiwei, a professor of international studies at Renmin University of China, was quoted by media saying that, “the so-called advice to athletes on cyber security is part of the US’ strategy to tarnish the Beijing Winter Games and China’s international image. 

In 2018, the African Union (AU) chairperson MousaaFaki Mahamat refuted claims that China had installed spy-computer in the AU headquarters at Addis-Ababa-Ethiopia for the purpose of stealing secrets and influencing African leaders to support Beijing’s global agenda. The spying allegations had been published by a French newspaper Le Monde. The same game is still going on. 

Ironically, the U.S is better known for leading cyber-attacks against different countries. For example in April last year, Norwegian authorities summoned US embassy officials in Oslo protesting over spying allegations.  After the meeting, Norwegian Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen said in a statement shared on Twitter, stressing that “spying on allies is unacceptable and unnecessary.”

Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said on Tuesday that Russia is in possession of information on the US and some of its allies, with the US State Department’s help, started a campaign against the 2022 Winter Olympics.

 A recent study by Professor Graham Alison of Harvard University reveals that China has displaced the US as the world’s biggest tech manufacturer. China has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, robotics, 5G and 6G, microchips and surveillance technology in recent years, catching up fast while the United States. The United States has been trying to curb China’s development in the tech industry. It has banned Huawei’s 5G networks and stopped U.S. companies from supplying software and components to Chinese tech companies. This is the real challenge that US is facing.  Instead of standing firm and up its technological innovations to outdo its competitor, it resorts to using dirty games to pull down China. 

China Olympic organizers though are not moved by the smear campaign of cyber-attacks. They are moving ahead with final preparations to make the Beijing 2022 Olympics spectacular and memorable with high tech expertise.  As all attempts by U.S to tarnish the image of China at home and abroad have failed, efforts to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games will in the same way not succeed. The world is anxiously waiting to enjoy the beauty of the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Can U.S observe the Olympic truce and cease all hostilities against China at least until the end of the Olympic Games?

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