Beijing Olympics should never have been allowed
INARGUABLE ... THIS UNDERSTATES THE NATURE OF CHAHAL’S OFFENCE. — COSH
As the Beijing Winter Olympics draw near, the absurdity, moral compromise, and peril of granting the Games to China become increasingly clear. While some naively optimistic advocates once hoped the sporting event would encourage an evermore aggressive Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to play nice with liberal democracies, the notion is now undeniably more ludicrous than Boris Johnson’s dance moves.
Starting in 2024, all nations hosting Olympic Games will be required to abide by the UN’S Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Conveniently, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) didn’t demand China adhere to these for the 2022 Games — likely because the last time Beijing made lofty promises to the IOC in 2008, it flagrantly broke almost all of them. It resulted in a lot of bad press for both China and the IOC, and who needs that type of headache when you have sponsors to appease?
Even without the burden of additional standards, China has already been accused of violating the IOC’S Olympic Charter when it comes to providing full media access in the lead-up to the Games.
Then there was the November disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai, whose fate still remains a big question mark. Now, national Olympic committees in some Western countries, as well as media organizations, are advising athletes and journalists alike to only take burner phones and laptops to Beijing.
The concern comes down to cybersecurity issues, and the potential for the CCP to monitor and compromise any devices brought into the country even after their owners return home. As a result, anyone attending the Games is being advised to bring new, disposable devices they plan to leave behind. The Canadian Olympic Committee says the Games present “a unique opportunity for cybercrime.”
“It should be assumed that every text, email, online visit and application access can be monitored or compromised,” the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said in an advisory.
At the same time, there’s been growing concern over how China may handle athletes and journalists who express political opinions at the event. While it was once thought that even the CCP wouldn’t dare apprehend foreigners at the Games (a thought that should have fallen by the wayside with the detention of Canada’s two Michaels), Beijing isn’t even bothering to make any promises of the sort. In fact, it has done the opposite.
Last week, Yang Shu, deputy director general of international relations for the Beijing organizing committee, said at a press conference that “dedicated departments” would investigate athletes’ comments at the Games. “Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment.”
So let’s get this straight: athletes and journalists attending Beijing 2022 are likely to be subject to authoritarian surveillance, cybercrime, and censorship. If they are perceived to step out of line, they, by China’s own admission, will be subject to the CCP’S notorious brand of draconian punishment. Based on those two sentences alone, never mind other concerns like the Uyghur genocide, how is it conscionable to permit these Games to proceed?
It isn’t, but the IOC is well-known to be one of the world’s most spineless sports bodies, and no individual country has the stones to back out, particularly this close to opening day. And so, athletes will be sent to compete with burner phones in tow, as if they’re off to tour The Wire’s Baltimore instead of the world’s largest and supposedly most prestigious sporting event.
Clearly, it’s too late to do much about the impending Games, but lessons must be learned for other sporting events going forward. Whether it’s North American sports leagues, international organizations like Formula One, or the IOC or FIFA, the trade-offs of doing business in China are just too high to ignore.
This is true on the ground, but also after events end as they provide dangerous opportunities for Beijing to expand its surveillance state. For Western democracies, these are national security issues and should be taken as seriously as banning Huawei’s 5G networks.
As for Beijing 2022, it may be a silver lining that COVID-19 will prevent many international spectators, business leaders, politicians and even media from attending in person thus limiting the potential liability for participating countries. As the pandemic ends, the stakes will only get higher.
As the West wakes up to the threat the CCP poses to our democratic institutions, financial systems and more, we can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the obvious threats that come with allowing China to host major international events.