The party poopers and pesky proselytizers

When China was selected to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, it left no stone unturned to try and repeat the effectiveness and superb organization of the spectacularly successful 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics; a particularly big challenge for a country that had relatively few winter sport practitioners.

Besides, the nearest accessible areas with a guaranteed winter long snow covering are in the north of China. Therefore, an expensive compromise solution had to be found between a cold enough location with a sufficient snow cover and proximity to a major international airport.

And so it came to pass that the selection of an area in Zhangjiakou, which is situated within traveling distance from the capital city of Beijing, was decided upon for the staging of all snow-related competitions.

A new high-speed train line was especially designed and built to whisk competitors and visitors alike, from all over the world, in comfort and at 350km/h to the Olympic Village.

Xinhua

The worlds' best ski jump, high-speed sleigh slide and snow-making designers were engaged; an Olympic swimming pool was converted into one of the best competition ice skating rinks in the world and no expense was spared to provide the best of facilities, including 5G communications throughout and 8K UHD (near natural) and state-of-the-art AI studios and transmission equipment.

All infrastructure building, interior decorations and others were completed well ahead of opening day and extensively tested with real-life crowds to ensure that any and all systems would be approved and/or changed according to the experience gained with real-life and voluminous crowds.

A major undertaking for a country with a per capita GDP of around US$12,000, compared with USA's US$63,000.

Indeed, China is still a developing nation. But it was justly proud of having achieved the (near) impossible: Completion of all facilities and amenities on schedule and fully functioning and tested, which is in sharp contrast with the last-minute panic building and sometimes non-completion of the facilities of several recent Olympic Games host countries, where often the paint was still drying when participants arrived.

Naturally, China wanted to not only share these magnificent facilities with the world's top sportspeople but also show the world the REAL China and not the China that, sadly, is only too often the butt of fake (bad) news and unbridled hostility, with little chance for the hapless Chinese to defend themselves against the lies, fabrications and exaggerations that have become the norm in the Western world rather than the exception.

To break the last straw, guess what: a bunch of Western anti-China politicians banded together to take the gloss of the Beijing 2022 by noisily announcing a refusal to send official delegations to Beijing. Moreover, the world's Hegemon, bully and self-appointed policeman put allies and friends under duress resulting in a severe under-representation of world leaders and their entourage at the official opening of the Games.

World leaders and politicians who made it have made attendance at the Beijing Winter Games a magnificent opportunity for them to get together and cement personal relationships that had been near impossible for more than two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AFP

As a foreigner in this exciting and energetic country, I have personally experienced the ups and downs of China in the past 30 years, and I have witnessed how the foresight, the hard work, the ingenuity, sweat and tears expended, and the perseverance of leaders have turned China from an infrastructure-lacking nation to a moderately prosperous one.

Not to mention the total elimination of about 800 million abject poor and the spectacular success of the curtailment of the pandemic.

Indeed, China's hyper low rate of (real, true and confirmed) COVID-19 deaths of only around 3 per million inhabitants pays homage to the organizational prowess and pragmatism of the Chinese leadership and the health authorities.

(Population: 1.4 billion; COVID-19 deaths: 4,636 as of February 11, 2022)

Compare this with one of the worst countries with 2,700 COVID-19 deaths per million inhabitants.

(Population: 334.1 million; COVID-19 deaths: 939,427 as of February 11, 2022)

I and the many other foreigners living and working in China, who have intimately come to know the REAL China are greatly upset that a country with top-shelf antecedents, that has spent an inordinate amount of money and time, well above the affordable, is now misused for political purposes, in blatant disregard for the Olympic spirit as laid down in the statutes of the modern Olympics: That all-comers to Olympic events are welcome, regardless of religion, gender, skin-color, sexual orientation or physical challenges.

And, most importantly: political persuasion.

The decision of several influential world countries NOT to send officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics has caused other dependent or vassal country leaders to also boycott this wonderful world event that should have been a real opportunity for world leaders to meet and help make the world a better place for all.

These politicians are also unfairly depriving China of their virtually only currently viable form of defense in the wake of all the fake news, lies and misconceptions – the oft repeated invitation:

"Please come to China and see for yourself. Talk freely to any or all of the local Chinese. Go to Xinjiang and witness the prosperity and happy disposition and freedom of the citizenry and compare this with the misery and desperation currently being experienced in neighboring Afghanistan."

Together with Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg, I and many of my compatriots say: Shame on you!

(Jacob von Bisterfeld is a freelancer based in Shanghai.)