The Mountain Speaks

"Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I'm sure will be protected." 

"Any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment."

"Dedicated departments [will evaluate punishment for athletes who violate the IOC political protest ban]."

"I think for the athletes to participate in the Olympic Games, they should follow the spirit and requirements provided by the Olympic Charter,"

"The politicization of sports is one of the things opposed by the Olympic Charter."

Yang Shu, deputy director-general, international relations, Beijing Organizing Committee

Protesters hold protest posters during a protest against Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by activists of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe front of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. (Jean-Guy Python/Keystone via AP)

China is known to get really cranky when it is criticized. And there has been a lot of criticism to date of China. It's exclusive 'ownership' of the South China Sea, its takeover of once-democratic Hong Kong, its threats expressed kinetically against Taiwan, its exploitation of Uyghurs for forced labour, and incarceration of a million Uyghurs in Xinjiang for re-education, forced sterilization of Uyghur women, its occupation of Tibet and persecution of Tibetans...the list goes on, to include its latest forays into hostage-diplomacy.

 

So to state that Beijing is in bad odour in much of the world community is to understate the situation. Beijing feels under pressure to impress the world community once again with its ability to put on a world-class entertainment performance with yet another Olympic Games venue for February of 2022, after the original scheduled for 2021 had been postponed as a result of the very coronavirus that China itself had exported to the world at large.

 

Now that the games' opening is fast approaching and the deadline for completion of all the venues and awe-inspiring details meant to showcase China internationally, authorities involved in preparations for the Winter Olympics opening are getting a little edgy. The temporary mass migration of the international community coming to worship at the shrine of Chinese efficiency and stage production has been denied Beijing once again; not even local Chinese may enter the environs due to concerns over the entry of Omicron and its huge infectability.

 

Beijing will make the most of this collapsed opportunity to boast of its artistic/theatrical skills while hosting a world event in sportsmanship. But it is not prepared to be sportsmanlike about countenancing political criticism from its invited guests competing in this world-class event. Beijing will not tolerate being the subject of complaints, derision, lack of respect, or any hint of dissatisfaction with its internal affairs, much less its vaunted status globally as it expands its reach and offers other nations indebtedness in response to its generosity in allowing their natural resources to further enrich Chinese GDP.

 

And while it is true that in the interests of political neutrality in the celebration of sports excellence in individual and group performance, the International Olympics Committee has established rules against political protests at IOC events, their rules are not quite in the same spirit and rigid disaffection as that of Beijing's. Whose Olympics organizing committee has warned of punishments to fit the assault on Beijing's sensibilities to be meted out to offenders.

 

So would Beijing dare to hold any offenders hostage to its rage over political statements offensive to China? After all, if incarceration is an option for 'seditious' behaviour as a suitable punishment for those offending Beijing's authoritarian sense of outrage at the presumptuousness of its critics, hostage-taking will be in order. A threat, implied but real, that can be guaranteed to silence anyone oblivious to their presence in a country known for its unflinching abuse of international laws while it flaunts its own as supreme.

Toronto's cybersecurity research group Citizen Lab has reported the vulnerability that faces visiting athletes through the smartphone app Olympians are required to download ostensibly to track the state of their health in identifying COVID infections. The Lab has detected security flaws whereby personal data of users will be accessible to Chinese security sources. A list of political keywords identified by the app's code to reveal who might be disobeying the organizers' edict warning of repercussions as a consequence of anything political.

In anticipation of just such complicating, coercive and intrusive events, the U.S. and other free-world countries whose athletes will be participating in the Games advised their athletes to make use of "burner phones" on their Beijing trip in avoidance of surveillance. According to Zhao Lijian, foreign ministry spokesman, those countries "who are guilty of the charge themselves are accusing the innocent party without any evidence". Oh, for shame!

The sun sets behind the Olympic Rings atop a tower near the Yanqing cluster of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, China, January 19, 2022. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)