Is Xi Jinping already the big winner of the Winter Olympics which open in Beijing on Friday February 4? Propaganda would have you believe so. By managing to organize in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic the Games that the Chinese president promised “fantastic, extraordinary and excellent” and by hosting some thirty Heads of State, Government and representatives of international organizations for the opening ceremony, China has already taken first place on the podium. A success that Xi Jinping will no doubt take pride in during the XXand congress of the Chinese Communist Party which, in the fall, should maintain him for a third five-year term at the head of the party and the nation. A major turning point in this country where, since Mao’s death in 1976, no leader has served more than two terms.
But until the end of the Games on February 20, anything can happen. China wants to show on the occasion of this event that its zero Covid policy remains the best possible response to the pandemic, even if the Omicron variant puts it at risk: since October 2021, there has been no day without that new cases appear. In January, 2,360 locally transmitted cases were reported. Despite everything, the official discourse is well established: China is the only G20 country to have experienced two years of growth in 2020 and 2021 and above all, say the authorities, it has only deplored two deaths linked to Covid-19 since April 2020.
If we can dispute this last figure, there is no doubt that the number of victims of Covid-19 is infinitely lower in China than in other countries. But this health toll is only possible by living in a bubble – since March 2020, China has cut 98% of flights connecting it to the rest of the world – and by constantly monitoring health and travel – limited as much as possible. – of its citizens. So many impossible measures in open societies. Moreover, the Games will take place in China, but far from the Chinese.
“Genocide Games”
The athletes, their companions and the journalists who follow the events can only leave the “bubble” of the Games after a quarantine of three weeks. Almost all of them will therefore leave China without having had any contact with the population. Symbolically, the cases of Covid recorded daily in the “bubble” are not consolidated with those of the rest of the country. To limit the spread of Covid-19 during the two weeks of sporting events, China intends to use the same triptych – “trace, test, isolate” – as in the rest of the country. How will the participants experience these permanent tests and this imposed physical distance? Will they consider them unbearable or will they consider them a lesser evil?
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