Canada’s Winter Olympics boycott is sinister
With the one- year countdown to the Winter Olympics in Beijing underway, some antiChina forces cannot pass up opportunity to use the high- profile sports event to vilify China, including Canada, the US and the UK.
The vilification will barely affect the highly- expected global gala event, and if any possible negative result comes of their move, it is the winter sports sector of these countries which will bear the losses.
Under the guise of a completely fabricated human right issue e in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous us Region, certain Western countries have ave been targeting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, with Canada’s House ouse of Commons passing a motion ion attacking Xinjiang, and even n calling for a relocation of the e Olympics from Beijing, for which the Trudeau government has s yet to endorse.
British Prime Minister Boris oris Johnson’s latest comments poured ed cold water on Canada, saying that t the British government is “not normally y in favor of sporting boycotts,” adding it h has b been a “long- standing” position of the UK.
Considered the world’s foremost sports competition, the eye- catching Olympic Games offer a “great” opportunity for those anti- China forces to get on the front foot to push their own political agenda. Though it is not the first time for Olympics being boycott against, there actually has long been a trend of the sporting event disengaging with politics or ideology.
The Olympic Games is a sporting feast for all mankind, with a motto of “faster, higher and stronger.” Representing spirit of being aspiring and optimistic, it encourages people to challenge themselves and achieve breakthroughs. Besides the trend of decoupling itself from politics, the sporting event has also generating massive benefits to both society and economy.
Multinationals choose to sponsor the events to raise popularity and enhance reputation, while a raft of sports- related industries can take the chance to boost revenue, from sport equipment manufacturing to retailing, t ili as well ll as related service sectors, especially when sports and tourism industries have bared the brunt of the once- in- a- century COVID- 19 pandemic.
As for the winter sports industries, North American countries and many European countries are advanced players in the world. In Canada, the market size of ski and snowboard resorts is estimated to reach $ 1.2 billion in 2021, and the size of spectator sports was forecasted to reach $ 4 billion, per data from IBISWorld.
Both the countries have advanced winter sports related industries, and a Winter Olympics can boost confidence of related sectors. However, if some of ideology- biased politicians try to politicize sports events to antagonize China, the related industries cannot shun the blow.
Just like the tariff war triggered by the US which has been proved as a double- edged sword. The US Chamber of Commerce recently issued a report, saying that an annual GDP loss of
$ 190 billio billion could occur to the US if 25 percent tar tariffs are placed on all two- way trade. Duri During the US’ promotion of its anti- China campaign, American firms have been constantly raising objections as they are the one bearing direct losses. While the world is struggling to stifl stifle the coronavirus, China, wit with effective containment and a b better economic recovery, has show shown its commitment to offer a global sporting sp feast to the world. Trying to je jeopardize the 2022 Beijing Winter Oly Olympics will not be accepted b by people l around the world and is doomed to fail.
The article was compiled based on an interview with Jiang Yiyi, a professor at the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism under the Beijing Sport University. bizopinion@ globaltimes. com. cn