Outrage at China ‘propaganda’ act
BEIJING 2022 organisers have been accused of crass and flagrant ‘propaganda’ after using a Uyghur athlete to light the cauldron at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Outcry was sparked by the move that saw the Uyghur cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang chosen as one of two Chinese competitors to ignite the flame.
It followed fierce criticism of the Chinese government in the buildup to these Games owing to claims they are committing crimes against humanity in their treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. Human rights groups allege as many as one million Uyghurs are enduring atrocious abuse in ‘re-education’ camps.
Rahima Mahmut of the World Uyghur Congress told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It was propaganda. They want to give their best image to the world and discredit survivors and organisations like ours who want to tell the world about the genocide that is happening.
‘They want people to believe them, to sportwash what they are doing. There is a Chinese idiom that translates as “no 300 taels of silver are buried here”. It is when someone protests too much that they are innocent. That is what I thought when I heard about the opening ceremony and the torch.’
Bennett Freeman, of the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region Steering Committee, said: ‘It’s a brazen, cynical ploy that the world should see through and understand the truth of the crimes against humanity that the Chinese government has perpetrated.’
The opening ceremony was orchestrated by Beijing 2022 organisers, though there was involvement from the International Olympic Committee, who have been slaughtered over their refusal to get involved in ‘political’ issues.
An IOC spokesman defended the involvement of Dinigeer, who came 43rd in yesterday’s 15km skiathlon, saying: ‘This is an athlete who is competing here. She has every right wherever she comes from to compete and she has every right whatever her background to take part in the opening ceremony. I think it was a lovely concept.’
Games officials were also criticised after security dragged a Dutch TV reporter away from his broadcast before the opening ceremony on Friday.
NOS Journaal’s Sjoerd den Daas was on camera outside the stadium when forcibly moved on by a man wearing a red armband, which appeared to identify him as a ‘public security volunteer’ working on the citizen-led neighbourhood watch programme. It was set up to help police maintain order.
According to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, foreign journalists are ‘facing unprecedented hurdles’ due to the ‘government’s efforts to block and discredit independent reporting’.
Meanwhile, the first gold medal of the Winter Olympics has been won by a convicted doper. In an awkward moment for Beijing 2022, the Norwegian cross-country skier Therese Johaug crushed the field to win the women’s 15km skiathlon by 44 seconds.
Her victory came after she was forced to sit out Pyeongchang 2018
with a doping ban. Johaug, 33, received an 18-month suspension in October 2016 after testing positive for clostebol, a banned steroid. She claimed it was accidentally ingested via an ointment she used for sunburnt lips. Johaug refused to field questions about doping prior to the Games in Beijijng.
Her medal was followed by a bronze for another convicted doper, Alexander Loginov, who was part of the Russian biathlon mixed relay team. Loginov was banned for two years in 2014 after testing positive for EPO.