“Don’t interfere in the Olympics”
China sends a warning to the US
01/27/2022 2:29 p.m
About a week before the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, host China again warns the USA against constantly interfering in the country’s affairs and disrupting the games. It’s about the human rights situation in China. It has also been sharply criticized by others.
China is demanding an end to US “interference” in the Beijing Winter Olympics. Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised the demand in a phone call with his American counterpart Antony Blinken, the Beijing Foreign Ministry reported. US pressure will only unite the Chinese people and will not prevent the country from becoming stronger. “The most urgent priority right now is that the US should stop interfering in the Olympics,” Wang Yi said in the call, according to the foreign ministry.
China’s foreign minister did not elaborate on the allegation of interference. But China is angered by the US government’s political boycott of the games, which will not send senior officials to Beijing for next Friday’s opening ceremony. Athletes from the USA, on the other hand, will take part in the games. Canada, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand will also not send government officials to the games.
“Crimes against humanity”
The US has sharply criticized the human rights situation in China and its treatment of minorities such as the Uyghurs and Tibetans. The United States is not alone in its criticism. According to Amnesty International, “crimes against humanity are happening in China on at least three counts: imprisonment, persecution and torture.”
A prominent example is the situation in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where members of the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs or Kazakhs were targeted by the Chinese state. “It’s all about stripping these people of their ethnic and religious identity.”
Therefore, the participants in the Olympic Games must be allowed to express themselves freely on the human rights situation in China. “There must be no restrictions here,” said Theresa Bergmann, the organization’s China expert in Germany. This must also apply to issues that the Chinese government considers “sensitive”. “The International Olympic Committee has a responsibility to ensure that.”
Situation even worse than 2015
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has also raised allegations against China. The situation is even worse than in 2015, when Beijing was chosen as the venue. “We see the total oppression of the Muslim population in Xinjiang province,” said Wenzel Michalski, Germany head of the human rights organization, in an interview with Bayerischer Rundfunk. He spoke of mass internment, forced labour, forced sterilization and torture.
At least a million people have been illegally detained there since 2017, according to Amnesty International. “It’s absolutely terrible in the camps,” said Bergmann. “People often don’t know why they are there.” Reasons for an arrest could be stays or contacts abroad, the use of Whatsapp, the practice of Islam or violations of the one-child policy.
Tensions between the ruling Han Chinese and ethnic minorities have long existed in Xinjiang. Since the bloody riots in 2009 and several terrorist attacks, the security forces have been cracking down. The Uyghurs lament cultural and religious oppression, while Beijing accuses them of separatism. After taking power in Beijing in 1949, the communists incorporated the former East Turkestan into the People’s Republic.