'Boycott' no hurdle to successful Winter Games

The United States' "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games is nothing but a publicity stunt by the Joe Biden administration, which has been spreading rumors about human rights abuses in China using such platforms as the G7, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and the US-EU Summit.

The Biden administration is using the boycott call, together with the so-called Summit for Democracy held last week, as a tool to trigger an ideological confrontation. But the political plot is not gaining any public support, and is thus doomed to failure.

This is not the first time that the Olympic Games have been used a political tool. During the Cold War, the US led a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. In retaliation, the Soviet Union led a communist bloc boycott of the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics. Both boycotts left the athletes and spectators with eternal regrets.

But no country has boycotted an Olympics since the end of the Cold War. In fact, in 1992, the International Olympic Committee, with the support of the United Nations, revived the ancient Greek treaty of "Olympic Truce", which was signed by three Greek warring city-states to allow safe participation in the ancient Olympics for all athletes and spectators from those states. The treaty ensured that peace prevailed during the ancient Olympic Games.

The Olympic Truce was first observed in the modern era at the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Norway. Thanks to the Olympic Truce, the delegations of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea paraded together under the Korean Peninsula flag at the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Games in Sydney, Athens and Beijing respectively. These historic moments highlighted the Olympic spirit and raised people's hope of seeing a peaceful and amiable world in the future.

Yet it was the US again that refused to honor the Olympic Truce and halt its military operations in Iraq in 2004, claiming they were not covered by the truce.

On Dec 2, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Beijing Winter Olympic Truce Resolution drafted by China and co-sponsored by 173 member states. The resolution, titled "Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal", calls for observing the tradition of Olympic Truce, from seven days before the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics that begin on Feb 4 until seven days after the Paralympic Games end on March 13.

The Olympics is not only about sports, it is also about the human pursuit of peace, friendship, unity and fair competition. So no country should use it as a political tool.

Moreover, although the US has said it will not send any government officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics, the fact is that China has not extended any invitation to US officials to attend it. How can you boycott an event to which you have not been invited?

Although in true follow-the-leader style, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada have decided to not send officials to the Beijing Winter Games, other US allies, including most European countries and Japan, have shown more restrained attitude. France and the ROK have publicly announced that they will not follow suit. The "diplomatic boycott", reflecting the US' ideological prejudice and an intention to make capital out of any important event, is not gaining popularity.

China is not only against describing Sino-US relations as competitive, but also opposed to any country using sports events to trigger confrontation in order to fulfill its narrow political goals.

China upholds the Olympic spirit and has the confidence and capability of hosting high-quality sports events. It has built many venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou for the 2022 Winter Olympics and is committed to making winter sports popular in the country and cultivating ice and snow sports talents.

And the fact that the international community, including the IOC, has spoken highly of the preparations for the Winter Games shows China is on way to hosting a spectacular Winter Olympics.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

The author is deputy director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies at China Institute of International Studies.

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