The Mountain Speaks
"Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I'm sure will be protected.""Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.""Dedicated departments [will evaluate punishment for athletes who violate the IOC political protest ban].""I think for the athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, they should follow the spirit and requirements provided by the Olympic Charter,""The politicization of sports is one of the things opposed by the Olympic Charter."Yang Shu, deputy director-general, international relations, Beijing Organizing Committee
Protesters hold protest posters during a protest against Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by activists of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. (Jean-Guy Python/Keystone via AP) |
China
is known to get really cranky when it is criticized. And there has been
a lot of criticism to date of China. It's exclusive 'ownership' of the
South China Sea, its takeover of once-democratic Hong Kong, its threats
expressed kinetically against Taiwan, its exploitation of Uyghurs for
forced labour, and incarceration of a million Uyghurs in Xinjiang for
re-education, forced sterilization of Uyghur women, its occupation of
Tibet and persecution of Tibetans...the list goes on, to include its
latest forays into hostage-diplomacy.
So
to state that Beijing is in bad odour in much of the world community is
to understate the situation. Beijing feels under pressure to impress
the world community once again with its ability to put on a world-class
entertainment performance with yet another Olympic Games venue for
February of 2022, after the original scheduled for 2021 had been
postponed as a result of the very coronavirus that China itself had
exported to the world at large.
Now
that the games' opening is fast approaching and the deadline for
completion of all the venues and awe-inspiring details meant to showcase
China internationally, authorities involved in preparations for the
Winter Olympics opening are getting a little edgy. The temporary mass
migration of the international community coming to worship at the shrine
of Chinese efficiency and stage production has been denied Beijing once
again; not even local Chinese may enter the environs due to concerns
over the entry of Omicron and its huge infectability.
Beijing
will make the most of this collapsed opportunity to boast of its
artistic/theatrical skills while hosting a world event in sportsmanship.
But it is not prepared to be sportsmanlike about countenancing
political criticism from its invited guests competing in this
world-class event. Beijing will not tolerate being the subject of
complaints, derision, lack of respect, or any hint of dissatisfaction
with its internal affairs, much less its vaunted status globally as it
expands its reach and offers other nations indebtedness in response to
its generosity in allowing their natural resources to further enrich
Chinese GDP.
And
while it is true that in the interests of political neutrality in the
celebration of sports excellence in individual and group performance,
the International Olympics Committee has established rules against
political protests at IOC events, their rules are not quite in the same
spirit and rigid disaffection as that of Beijing's. Whose Olympics
organizing committee has warned of punishments to fit the assault on
Beijing's sensibilities to be meted out to offenders.
So
would Beijing dare to hold any offenders hostage to its rage over
political statements offensive to China? After all, if incarceration is
an option for 'seditious' behaviour as a suitable punishment for those
offending Beijing's authoritarian sense of outrage at the
presumptuousness of its critics, hostage-taking will be in order. A
threat, implied but real, that can be guaranteed to silence anyone
oblivious to their presence in a country known for its unflinching abuse
of international laws while it flaunts its own as supreme.
Toronto's
cybersecurity research group Citizen Lab has reported the vulnerability
that faces visiting athletes through the smartphone app Olympians are
required to download ostensibly to track the state of their health in
identifying COVID infections. The Lab has detected security flaws
whereby personal data of users will be accessible to Chinese security
sources. A list of political keywords identified by the app's code to
reveal who might be disobeying the organizers' edict warning of
repercussions as a consequence of anything political.
In
anticipation of just such complicating, coercive and intrusive events,
the U.S. and other free-world countries whose athletes will be
participating in the Games advised their athletes to make use of "burner
phones" on their Beijing trip in avoidance of surveillance. According
to Zhao Lijian, foreign ministry spokesman, those countries "who are guilty of the charge themselves are accusing the innocent party without any evidence". Oh, for shame!
The sun sets behind the Olympic Rings atop a tower near the Yanqing cluster of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, China, January 19, 2022. (Thomas Peter/Reuters) |
Labels: 2022 Olympic Games, Beijing, Control, Criticism, Olympian Contenders, Political Speech, Punishment, Warning
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