The Winter Olympics are fast approaching. The 2022 games will take place from February 4-20, 2022, in Beijing, China. The games are meant to bring countries of the world together, to instill harmony, and to encourage peace. Athletes from around the world are supposed to gather and compete on the world stage where political barriers are removed and differences are set aside; however, this idealistic view of the Olympics is only a façade.
In reality, the games are politicized. Because the doping of some athletes is prevalent, they are randomly tested for illegal enhancing drugs that aid in an athlete’s performance. To some, the country that wins the most medals perceives that its country is superior to other nations. This striving for being the best was evident with mainland China where many viewed anything less than a gold was a failure at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held in Japan in 2021 because of the Covid pandemic.
Many, if not most people, know that the Olympics originated in Ancient Greece approximately 2300 years ago. The games were played in Olympia, Greece. However, the ancient Olympics ended around 393 AD/CE. because of wars. But after an absence of the games for approximately 1500 years, they were revived because of the efforts of Baron Pierre Coubertin, a French educator. He proposed the revival of the Olympics, which was unanimously approved at the International Paris Congress n 1894. Two years later, the games were played in Athens, Greece. Interestingly, Coubertin devised the five ring emblem that symbolizes the modern day Olympics. These five rings represent the unity of the five continents.
Coubertin, who is considered as the “Father of the modern Olympics”, stated that the spirit of the Olympic Games is “The Elevation of the mind and soul, overcoming differences between nationalities and cultures, embracing friendship, a sense of solidarity, and fair play; ultimately leading to the contribution towards world peace and the betterment of the world.”
But if the reasons for holding the Summer and Winter Olympics is to create harmony, understanding cultural differences, embracing friendship, solidarity, fair play, global peace, and justice, then global citizens and countries need to ask, “Why are the games being hosted in Beijing, China, in 2022, if the hosting of the games is based on Coubertin’s philosophy of the spirit of Olympism?”
Does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of mainland China uphold Coubertin’s spirit of the Olympic Games? No. China’s national, regional, and global actions demonstrate the antithesis of Coubertin’s philosophy.
In China’s jails and prisons, there are many Chinese people and other ethnicities incarcerated under conditions that don’t follow the rule of law. Many of these prisoners are held without charges, or are imprisoned with false charges. For example, it has been nearly three years since Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have been detained by Chinese officials in China. In December 2018, in apparent retaliation for the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei telecoms executive, China arrested the two Michaels without charges. After nearly 3 years of imprisonment, Michael Spavor was determined guilt for spying, despite a lack of evidence, and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Michael Kovrig has yet to be charged. Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig remain incarcerated.
Today, the Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority, are oppressed. Over 1 million Uyghurs are held against their will in what the Chinese government calls “educational camps”. Many Uyghurs are used in slave labour practices, such as in the cotton industry. The Chinese government is committing cultural genocide against the Uyghurs. The CCP is attempting to force the minority ethnic group to renounce their faith of Islam; suppressing their language and dialects; shaming their identity; and razing their religious temples.
Besides these injustices, many Uyghur women are forced to receive contraceptive IUDs, or are forcibly sterilized so that they can’t have children. According to some sources, Uyghur women have been raped to shame them, sometimes causing the female victims to be ostracized by their own families.
The Chinese government has displayed aggression in the South China Sea. Despite international maritime law rulings, the CCP has laid claim to most of this important waterway, an important trade route, ignoring the maritime boundaries of other Asian countries: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. In this vital sea trade area, China has laid claim to the disputed Spratly Islands, and created artificial islands and militarized some of them. Often, China’s naval ships and coast guard have displayed intimidating aggression toward its much smaller and weaker neighbours.
To the east of mainland China is Taiwan. During the Chinese civil war and Communist revolution, Mao Zedong, also known as Mao Tse-tung, led the forces that he commanded to gain control of China by defeating the Kuomintang (KMT) Chinese government led by Chiang Kai-shek. The KMT ruled mainland China from 1927-1949. However, the Communist forces overwhelmed the KMT’s military forces, which resulted in Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT, government officials, and hundreds of thousands of business people to flee across the water to the island of Taiwan.
Since the Communists victory over the KMT in 1949, China lays claim to Taiwan, stating that it is a breakaway island that needs to be reunited with the mainland, either “peacefully”, or through military invasion. Routinely, mainland China displays its passive aggression through naval and jet fighter incursions into Taiwan’s waters and air space. This jingoistic aggression is sending a signal to Taiwan that mainland China is prepared to take Taiwan by force if necessary.
Hong Kong illustrates China’s disregard for the rule of law. The British government handed Hong Kong over to the Chinese Communist government in 1996, ending Britain’s political and economic control of this important trade route. In the handover, China agreed that Hong Kong would operate politically and economically autonomously from mainland China for 50 years. Hong Kong and mainland China would operate under two different systems, the former under democracy and the latter under Communism. However, that agreement came to end when the CCP of China decided to press its will on the democratic rights of the people of Hong Kong. Protests broke out in the streets where the people of Hong Kong demonstrated their support for democracy. The protests became violent. The police used militaristic and violent aggression against mostly unarmed citizens who were beaten, tear gassed, and thrown into jail, some into prison. Business people, who opposed the CCP’s undermining of democracy, faced trumped up charges. Many were incarcerated.
The global community has been unsuccessful in ending mainland China’s injustices. The two Michaels remain imprisoned; the Uyghurs are persecuted, incarcerated in “educational camps”, and many families are separated; cultural genocide continues; women are raped, and women are forcibly sterilized; mainland China’s jingoism continues in the South China Sea; Taiwan remains threatened; and Hong Kong’s democracy no longer exists as it did. The global nation states have not physically intervened in any of these situations; instead, the global community has taken a political stance in dealing with the injustices; however, the political posturing has been ineffective.
If the nation states are entrenched in only taking a continued political stance to deal with these mainland Chinese injustices, what effective political step could the world take in dealing with the CCP? Boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. It is hypocritical for the nation states to say that the Olympics are meant to foster Coubertin’s philosophy, but allow China to host the games or for countries to attend the games if the CCP and mainland China are in violation of the purpose and reasons for the games.
Coubertin stated that the purpose, the spirit and intent of the Olympics is for “The Elevation of the mind and soul, overcoming differences between nationalities and cultures, embracing friendship, a sense of solidarity, and fair play; ultimately leading to the contribution towards world peace and the betterment of the world.” Has the CCP and mainland China lived up to these ideals? Has China cultivated the spirit of the Olympics? If not, then nation states have a moral and ethical duty to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in Beijing, China. To do otherwise, which would be moral and ethical hypocrisy, is to purposely turn a blind eye to China’s oppression, slavery, cultural genocide, jingoism, and suppression of Hong Kong’s democracy. Governments around the world should boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics.