Press play to listen to this article
Chinese human rights critics are considering a new sanction for Beijing: the elimination of the city from the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Lawmakers from several major Olympic countries, including the Netherlands, Canada and the United States, recently said the 2022 Games should be taken from China because of the repression of the Uighur Muslim minority in northwestern Xinjiang. The Dutch and Canadian parliaments have officially labeled the crackdown as “genocide”, as has the US State Department.
In an interview, Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, a Dutch MP from the ruling coalition’s D66 party, said “the greatest detention of an ethnic minority since World War II” and highlighted the stories of forced sterilization and rape as proof that China should be abolished by the Olympic Games. .
Sjoerdsma, whose social-liberal party initiated the Dutch motion to call genocide the treatment of the Uighur minority, said athletes should decide for themselves whether to go to Beijing, but he would prefer the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which organizes the games, attributed the event to another country.
“Large sports organizations, whether Olympics or football, should consider the human rights situation in a possible host country in much more detail and, if it is already allocated … see how the situation develops,” he said. he said.
In early February, a group of seven U.S. Republican senators, including Rick Scott of Florida, called for the Beijing Games to be moved. In mid-February, Conservative Canadian opposition leader Erin O’Toole made a similar request.
It is not the first time that the location of the upcoming Olympic Games has sparked debate. Before the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, teams from several countries, including the United States, considered staying away. In 1980, the US team boycotted the Moscow Olympics after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
The effect of boiling resistance in Beijing as a host in 2022 remains to be seen. Protests also erupted ahead of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics over China’s policies in Tibet, observers note, but the event went as planned.
Ties Dams, a Chinese researcher at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank, said the idea of pressuring the Chinese government to change its treatment of the Uyghur minority, threatening to boycott the Olympics, was unlikely to happen. .
However, he said that the motion in the Dutch parliament to label the treatment of the Uighur people is a genocide it could force at least the new government, which will be elected on March 17, to elect the parties and either support the insane attitude towards China adopted by the administration of US President Joe Biden, or the more cooperative approach taken by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
To take over the European leadership?
The Netherlands, a traditional center of the Winter Olympics, due to its dominance in speed skating events, has recently emerged as an advocate of using sporting events to keep host nations accountable for their human rights policies.
Dutch lawmakers last month passed a motion asking the Dutch king and prime minister not to attend the Qatar World Cup if the Netherlands qualifies for next year’s tournament, citing “terrible conditions” for migrant workers building stadiums.
A similar motion for the Olympics was rejected, but MP Sjoerdsma said he hoped it could pass in the coming weeks, with some parties likely to change their position.
However, the Netherlands Olympic Committee has issued a cautionary note on how far the country could be prepared to go. In response to questions about a potential Dutch boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, a committee spokesman said: “In the Netherlands, we have a policy of talking about a sports boycott only if the Netherlands, as a country, participates in a larger international boycott plan involving several sectors. It’s not necessary. ”
The Canadian Olympic leaders, before the declaration of the genocide of the national parliament, also said that they will not support the boycott.
In an opinion piece in early February – which remains their position – the heads of Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic committees wrote that sports boycotts amounted to “little more than a convenient and politically cheap alternative to diplomacy”. real and significant ”.
Chinese push
China, which was furious with pro-Tibet protests ahead of the 2008 Games, said it took any threats of the 2022 boycott very seriously.
“It is very irresponsible for anyone to try to interfere, obstruct or disrupt the organization and functioning [Winter] The Olympic Games, for political reasons, “Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said last month in response to calls for an international boycott.
“We believe that such movements would not be supported by the international community and are doomed to failure,” Wang added.
Shortly afterwards, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell that the two sides should “take advantage of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics to strengthen sports exchanges.” winter “and” encourage new highlights “in bilateral cooperation.
In the same appeal, Wang also said that China “opposes the fabrication and dissemination of lies and false news” in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
For its part, the IOC has tried to stay on the sidelines of politics, telling POLITICO that it remains “neutral” in all global political issues.
“Granting the Olympic Games to a National Olympic Committee (NOC) does not mean that the IOC agrees with the political structure, social circumstances or human rights standards of his country,” he said.
It is a position that has attracted its own criticism. Jules Boykoff, a professor at Pacific University who wrote extensively about the Olympics, accused the IOC of “hypocrisy.”
“The IOC has shown an unfortunate tendency to deviate from human rights atrocities to ensure that the games continue,” Boykoff said.
“The Olympic Charter is full of strong ideas about equality and anti-discrimination, but the IOC ignores its own Charter when it is convenient for them to do so,” he said.
But what effect do geopolitical maneuvers have on the real stars of any Olympics?
Olympic competitors have been put in a difficult position, said Rob Koehler of Global Athlete, a sports-led sports movement.
“As governments call for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, athletes are once again being used as pawns,” Koehler said. “The CIO and the CPI are primarily to blame for putting athletes in this position.”
“The IOC and the CPI have decided to give the games to a country with an abysmal human rights record,” he said.
China Direct to the POLITICAL will explore Europe’s diplomatic and trade relations with China, providing weekly reports and expert analysis in the e-mail box. Sign up today.**