Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation from his Chinese counterpart and good friend Xi Jinping to participate in Beijing’s Winter Olympics, with US President Joe Biden saying he is calling for the event to highlight China’s human rights violations. Diplomats are considering a boycott.
Putin’s visit to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in February next year will become the first state leader to meet face-to-face with Xi since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the central Chinese province of Wuhan in 2019.
China and Russia have a good tradition of celebrating major events together. Xi attended the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a media briefing here on Tuesday. Now President Xi Jinping is inviting his good friend President Putin to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics. Zhao said President Putin has happily accepted the invitation.
He said the two sides are in close contact on the details of the visit. We believe this will once again reflect the partnership between China and Russia that best helps each other. Zhao said that we hope and believe that athletes from both countries will set new records and we will make new contributions to deliver a brilliant and safe Olympics.
Biden said last week that we are considering supporting a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in February. Beijing is making great preparations to host the Winter Olympic Games in February next year.
The event makes Beijing the only city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics. In addition to the US, the European Union and many other Western countries were expected to engage in diplomatic boycotts, meaning their leaders and diplomats would not attend the opening and closing ceremonies, while their athletes would participate. Sports events.
US First Lady Jill Biden led the US contingent at this year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and second gentleman Doug Emhoff led a delegation to the Paralympic Games. China and Russia have been strengthening their strategic ties in recent years amid pressure from the US and the European Union on a range of issues, including human rights violations.
Calls for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics grew louder after Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai went missing after a senior ruling Communist Party leader forced her to have sex. Peng, 35, went missing on November 17 after he alleged WeChat was forced to have sex by Zhang Gaoli, 75, the former deputy prime minister of China after retiring from power in 2017.
His explosive #MeToo allegation posted on his WeChat account on November 17 was removed from social media by Chinese censors. Subsequently, reports stated that she went missing, which created an international uproar. Several international tennis stars including the United Nations, the US and Serena Williams expressed concern over his sudden disappearance and asked China to reveal his whereabouts.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has also reportedly threatened to withdraw the tournament from China. Over the past few days, in an apparent damage control move, Chinese official media journalists posted photos and videos of them attending public events. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also said that Peng had a 30-minute video call with its president Thomas Bach on the same day.
However, doubts remain over Peng’s freedom of movement. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is concerned that her sexual assault allegation will be censored and dismissed, according to a statement from WTA President Steve Simon.
According to the WTA, the senior official at the center of the sexual harassment allegation is former deputy prime minister Zhang Gaoli. Neither Zhang, who served as the head of the Beijing Winter Olympics working group from 2015 to 2018 and met with Bach in 2016, nor the Chinese government has commented on the allegation.
Amnesty International meanwhile warned the IOC that the sporting body was entering dangerous waters and should be extremely careful not to participate in any possible whitewash of human rights violations by China. Responding to Amnesty’s comments, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao said the so-called organization you mentioned is plagued with anti-China views, adding that its remarks do not deserve any rebuttal.
On Peng’s disappearance, Zhao, who has been evading questions for the past few days saying it was not a diplomatic question on Tuesday, drew media attention to her video conversation with the IOC president. I believe you must have noticed that she used to participate in open activities. He also had a video call with the IOC President. We hope the parties concerned can stop the malicious propaganda and stop politicizing the issue. The diplomatic boycott by the US and its allies could cast a shadow over the grand opening ceremony being organized by China for the event as their official delegation will be conspicuously absent to flag human rights issues.
The US and European Union countries accused China of widespread human rights allegations against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang as a protest against growing settlements in Han Chinese. He is also critical of the human rights situation in Hong Kong and Tibet.
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