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Published:February 03,2022
Rabi Sankar Bosu
Volunteers of the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games paste Spring Festival couplets to wish good luck for the Chinese New Year, in Beijing, China, January 30, 2022. /VCG
It’s festive time in China now! China’s grandest annual celebration, the Spring Festival otherwise known as Chinese Lunar New Year with its exquisite beauty of traditional culture is approaching. The streets and lanes of China are now decorated with red lanterns to greet the Chinese New Year of the Tiger which falls on February 1 this year.
Along with the month-long celebrations of the Spring Festival, the Chinese capital, Beijing with its thousands-year history is going to host the Winter Olympics from February 4 to 20, followed by the Paralympic Winter Games from March 4 to 13. In this context, it can be said that the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a New Year gift from China to the world. No doubt, the eyes of the world will be on the 16-day-long Winter Olympics.
It is noteworthy that in 2008, Beijing successfully held the unforgettable 29th Summer Olympics. Fourteen years later on February 4, the Olympic flame will be lit again at the National Stadium, also known as the “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing. In this way, the Chinese capital will be the first city in the world to organize both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. It is undoubtedly a matter of great pride for the over 1.4 billion Chinese people.
It’s really encouraging for sports enthusiasts all over the world to witness the ice and snow skills of more than 3,000 athletes from about 90 countries and regions during the XXIV Olympic Winter Games with the new Olympic motto: “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.” Participating athletes do not only realize their dreams in Beijing but also get a chance to forge closer bonds with, and gain a deeper understanding of China.
More importantly, they will also be able to realize a “green, inclusive, open and clean” Olympics as advocated by China. It is worth mentioning that all the 12 venues of the Winter Olympics in three competition zones in Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou will use renewable energy like solar or wind and will be carbon neutral. This will be the first time in Olympic history.
Surely, hosting a green Olympics will underscore China’s solution, wisdom and contribution to the world on how to approach the relationship between man and nature as well as development and environmental protection. Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022, has praised China for delivering the promises on a carbon-neutral Games by stating that “the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee are going to deliver extraordinary games even in the very challenging period of time with corona pandemic.”
A foreign journalist writing blessings on couplets for Chinese New Year in the Main Media Center for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, January 31, 2022. /VCG
Since the daunting challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the Omicron variant still remain in China and the whole world, Beijing has taken many precautionary measures for the prevention and control of the pandemic, such as remote control measures, bio bubble mechanism, strict investigation, emergency settlement and so on. China’s “dynamic zero-COVID-19” policy for the quadrennial winter sports spectacle earns lavish praise from the global community. Beijing has expressed its firm desire to present a “streamlined, safe and splendid” Olympic Games for the world.
Unfortunately, being baffled by China’s growing dominance on the international stage, the United States has been trying to sabotage the Beijing Winter Olympic Games by initiating a diplomatic boycott of the Games under the pretext of China’s human rights “violations and abuses” against the Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibetans in Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong people in HKSAR and more on the basis of falsified evidence.
It is seen that the U.S. administration throughout its different presidencies has not hidden its concern about China’s rise as an effective world superpower, describing China as a “rival.” The U.S. administration under President Joe Biden has mounted diplomatic pressure on its allies, namely Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, Lithuania, Denmark, the Netherlands and Japan to join his efforts for the diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics. But the allegations of the imagined “forced labor,” “violation of human rights” and “genocide” in Xinjiang are completely baseless. Very few countries have joined the U.S. diplomatic boycott.
Sports shouldn’t be used as a geopolitical tool to subjugate a country. Obviously, the U.S.- instigated boycott campaign violates the spirit of the Olympic Charter which points out “the practice of sport is a human right.” As in the words of the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. Just as in life, the aim is not to conquer but to struggle well.”
Fortunately, most of the countries across the world unanimously supported China’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics and opposed the politicization of the sport. All of China’s immediate neighbors in South Asia including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Nepal are in favor of supporting the Beijing Winter Olympics. Despite its closeness to the U.S. by entering the Quad alliance, India’s backing of the Beijing Olympics indicates that it doesn’t want to jeopardize its relations with China. India’s firm support for the winter sporting jamboree will surely be a happy moment for sports lovers in India.
The 31-year-old Alpine skier Arif Khan, the only entry from India, will compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom events of the Beijing Olympics. ‘Holding the tricolor at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games is like a dream,” Khan said.
On the other hand, the way Pakistan rejected the U.S. and other Western countries’ dirty politics regarding the Winter Olympics and announced its support for holding this international sporting event shows how much stronger the bond of friendship between Pakistan and China is. Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, the former captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team, will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 to show support to China against the politicization of sports and the U.S.-led diplomatic boycott. Notably, Alpine skier Mohammad Karim will be Pakistan’s only athlete to take part in the games.
It’s impressive to see that during an online conference on January 24, more than 100 leaders and representatives of more than 40 political parties and social organizations from Southeast Asian and South Asian countries expressed their unified support and confidence that China will present a fantastic, extraordinary, and excellent winter Olympics to the world. In his speech, Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, chairman of National Assembly and leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), said that he welcomed the Beijing Winter Olympics and hoped athletes from different countries would unite by promoting the Olympic spirit and making friends.
The U.S.-led diplomatic boycott of the Games is aimed at discrediting China’s reputation as a leading sports nation and obstructing the Beijing Winter Olympics. With the arrival of the Winter Olympics, the Biden administration has been trying its best to disrupt the Winter Olympic extravaganza with various tactics such as not sending an official delegation to the games and stopping several Chinese airlines from flying to America. This action has damaged the Olympic spirit and its principles, and the atmosphere of unity and cooperation of the international community.
The Olympic Games is a platform for fair competition for athletes of different social, economic, political ideologies of different countries, as well as a symbol of the unity and friendship of mankind, but not a venue for U.S. politicians to politicize the sporting event. The way all Southeast Asian and South Asian countries opposed the U.S.-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games underlines their shared spirit of sporting togetherness and solidarity with China.
It is expected that the Beijing Winter Olympics will prove to be a milestone in uniting the world by promoting mutual cooperation, friendship and world peace around the world echoing the message of the theme song “Together for a shared future.”
Rabi Sankar Bosu is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets. He writes about Chinese politics, social and cultural issues, and China-India relations with a special interest in the Belt and Road Initiative.
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