«Today, many countries, including the United States and European countries, are offering a diplomatic boycott of non-participation. Personally, I think this political boycott is pointless,” he said on ZDF’s “heute journal”.
China is now so self-confident that it is not afraid of it, said the 64-year-old. The West has not been able to find a better way to negotiate economic or political deals with China.
“The boycott is thus reduced to a superficial gesture,” said the artist and critic of the Chinese Communist Party, who lives in Portuguese exile.
The International Olympic Committee uses sport to a large extent for the sporting events of an authoritarian state. While the government in China unscrupulously oppresses the people and makes the games a celebration for the regime, the IOC has never criticized it. “The IOC always strives for higher profits and has lost the spirit of the Olympic Games in the process,” Ai said.
Among other things, China has been criticized for human rights violations in dealing with Uyghurs and Tibetans, for threats against Taiwan and for the suppression of the democracy movement in Hong Kong.