Beijing attacked for Olympic f lame stunt
CHINA was last night compared to the Nazi regime for choosing an athlete from the persecuted Uighur community to light the cauldron at the Winter Olympics.
The Communist regime was roundly condemned for ‘propaganda’ after cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang was one of two people used to ignite the flame for the Beijing Games.
Human rights groups allege that around one million Uighurs are enduring abuse in ‘re-education camps’ in the region of Xinjiang.
US-based lawyer Rayhan Asat – whose brother Ekpar is in one of the camps – said the smiling stunt echoed that of fencer Helene Mayer, who was selected to represent Germany in Adolf Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics even though her father was Jewish.
Ms Asat said: ‘I did feel like history is repeating itself. This is like a new low.’
She then reflected that the selection of Yilamujiang could mean China is concerned about its international reputation and ‘this is why it’s important that we keep criticising’. Darren Byler, assistant professor of international studies at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, said the stunt was ‘very much a deliberate choice.’
‘I think it should be read as China saying we are not backing away from our stance on what we’re doing in Xinjiang and we don’t really care what the world thinks about it,’ he added.
Friday’s ceremony showed representatives from China’s 56 ethnic groups passing the country’s flag to each other in an apparent demonstration of national unity.
Yilamujiang then lit the flame alongside Zhao Jiawen, a skier from China’s dominant Han majority.
The ceremony was orchestrated by the Beijing 2022 organisers, but yesterday the International Olympic Committee defended the involvement of Yilamujiang.
Spokesman Mark Adams said that she was ‘an Olympian competing here’ and ‘we do not discriminate against people because of where they are from and what their background is’.
He continued that 20-year-old skier Yilamujiang was ‘perfectly entitled to take part in the opening’, adding: ‘I think it was a lovely concept.’
The US, UK and Canada have already declared a diplomatic boycott over China’s treatment of its Uighur minority.