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Winter Olympics 2022: China Eases Covid Testing As Cases Rise
US Diplomats to Boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for the boycott BBC 7 DEC 2021 https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cp...f83c54f1ff.jpg The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China - a move that has been heavily criticised by Beijing. The White House said no official delegation would be sent to the Games because of concerns about China's human rights record. But it said US athletes could attend and would have the government's full support. China called Washington's move a "self-directed political farce". "The US just wants to politicize sports, create divisions and provoke confrontation," said a statement by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the UN. "The success of the Games does not rely on the attendance of a handful of countries' government officials." Earlier, anticipating the announcement, Beijing said it would take "resolute countermeasures" against such a boycott. White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the boycott on Monday, saying that the administration would not contribute to the "fanfare" of the Olympics. "US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's [People's Republic of China] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang," she said. "We simply can't do that." Ms Psaki added that the US government did not feel "it was the right step to penalise athletes who had been training for this moment", but that not sending an official US delegation to the 2022 Games "could send a clear message". Following the US announcement, New Zealand said on Tuesday it too would not send a delegation. Other countries, including the UK and Australia, are said to be considering boycotts. 'Political Posturing' China's Washington embassy also waded in on the announcement, calling the boycott a "grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter". "No-one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be successfully held," said spokesman Liu Pengyu, quoted by Reuters. Mr Liu added that no invitation had been extended to US politicians, "so this 'diplomatic boycott simply comes out of nowhere". On Chinese social media platform Weibo, the search topic "US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics" has been censored as of Tuesday morning. Most of the comments below a post on the announcement by state media outlet Global Times were also deleted, leaving only eight out of close to 1,500 comments untouched. "The Olympics are for athletes, what does it have to do with... politicians? Even if you boycott, the only people you're hurting are your own countrymen (including athletes)," one such comment read. High-level government representatives - from the US and other countries - are usually present at Olympic Games. Earlier this year, First Lady Jill Biden led the US delegation at the summer Olympics held in Tokyo. Analysis by Robin Brant, Shanghai correspondent China had pre-emptively tried to take the sting out of this in the last few days by dismissing such a move as irrelevant. Officials said Covid restrictions meant Beijing and the IOC weren't inviting any dignitaries anyway. You can expect to see this decision derided as yet another sign of a "cold war mentality". But it was always very unlikely that Joe Biden or any senior political figure would come to a Games hosted by a government he said is committing genocide. In the months building up to this decision one senior US diplomat I spoke to said they'd try to educate their athletes about what's happening in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. They envisaged something like fire side chats among athletes between events in Beijing. Will the UK now follow suit? London does not officially accuse Xi Jinping's Communist regime of genocide but Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has reportedly said just that in private conversations. Some months ago a senior UK official, intimately involved in policy on China, told me they thought the UK would be seen as America's 'poodle' if it joined a boycott. Bipartisan Support In the US, the diplomatic boycott was praised by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney tweeted that the Biden administration was "right to refuse" a diplomatic presence at the Olympics, while Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi added that she applauded the decision. "While we must support and celebrate our athletes, America - and the world - cannot give our official imprimatur to these games or proceed as if there is nothing wrong with holding the Olympics in a country perpetrating genocide and mass human rights violations," Ms Pelosi said. Some US politicians, however, said they believed that the diplomatic boycott is not enough, with Senator Tom Cotton calling it a "half measure" and argued that the administration should have opted to "fully boycott" the games. The US has accused China of repression of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities living mostly in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Tensions have also risen over the way China has acted to suppress political freedoms in Hong Kong, and because of concern for the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who has accused a top government official of assault. The Women's Tennis Association last week suspended all tournaments in China because of "serious doubts" about Ms Peng's safety. Other countries, including the UK and Australia, are said to be considering boycotts. The Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics falls far short of a previous US boycott in 1980, when it pulled its athletes out of the Moscow Olympics to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year. The Soviet Union and its allies, in turn, boycotted the following 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. The US is itself due to hold the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. |
Re: Winter Olympics 2022: China Eases Covid Testing As Cases Rise
Winter Olympics 2022: China Eases Covid Testing Rules Amid Rise in Cases
Organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics have eased a Covid-19 testing requirement for participants, amid a growing number of cases in the capital. BBC News 27 JAN 2022. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cp...23c679a5b7.jpg The majority of the Beijing public aren't allowed to attend the Games due to Covid restrictions https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cp...434cac54a8.jpg A worker in full protective equipment steps off a train in the Olympics closed-loop area. The new change makes it easier for participants arriving at the Games to be considered virus-free. Of more than 3,000 Olympic arrivals, 106 have tested positive for the virus since 4 January. Outside of the tournament's closed-off premises, Beijing locals are facing harsher restrictions and new lockdowns. Around two million residents in Beijing's Fengtai district have been told to undergo testing, as a handful of locally transmitted cases were found earlier this week. Locals who bought over-the-counter treatments for fever or cough symptoms have also been told to do a test within three days of the purchase. Chinese officials are aiming to stamp out small outbreaks of the virus before the Games begin on 4 February, as Beijing continues its zero-Covid strategy. 'Zero Spread Not Zero Cases' But Games officials say they expect more cases to emerge, with Dr Brian McCloskey, the chair of the Beijing 2022 Olympics medical expert panel, telling a media briefing on Sunday that organisers' aims were "zero spread" not "zero cases". He said the challenge lay in organisers detecting and isolating positive people quickly. But in perhaps a concession to the the reality of the virus' spread, Games officials on Tuesday introduced a slight relaxation in testing rules. Participants will now have to meet a cycle threshold (CT) standard of 35, instead of 40, to count as being positive with the virus. The higher the CT value, the less infectious a person is. China had initially opted for the higher measure of viral load, despite the 30-35 value being widely accepted elsewhere. In a further relaxation, close contacts will also have their isolation time halved from 14 to seven days. Those who do test positive for Covid at the Games will be able to take part in the tournament after returning two negative tests. Dr McClosky, in his briefing on Sunday, said organisers were trying to find a balance for the Games attendees. "You can either set the bar very low to make sure nobody is getting through the system who might be infectious - or you can set the bar higher to try and make sure nobody gets excluded from the Games because of a false positive test," he said according to an SCMP report. The upcoming Winter Olympics are expected to be the world's strictest mass sporting event yet, as China is determined to maintain its zero-Covid status. To do that, it has completely isolated Games participants from the broader public - by containing all athletes, team officials, media and other attendees in vast "closed loop" bubbles for the event's fortnight. People arriving for the Games have to clear Covid tests pre-departure, upon arrival and every day while at the Games. So far, just over half of the positive tests have been detected upon arrival at Beijing Airport with the others found during routine testing inside the Olympic bubbles. |
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