The BAL will once again feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries and will expand to a total of 38 games taking place in three cities over three months in 2022.
China is also not concerned that the officials’ absence
would spark a chain reaction, and numerous heads of state, government leaders
and members of royal families have registered to attend, Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.
The three countries have said they won’t send government
dignitaries to the games, which run Feb. 4-20, to protest human rights abuses
in China, while New Zealand said it informed Beijing earlier that it wouldn’t
be sending any officials due to pandemic travel restrictions but had also
communicated its human rights concerns.
Under the diplomatic boycott, the countries will still send
their athletes to compete.
Wang said China had not extended invitations to the U.S.,
Canada or the U.K. and that it “doesn’t matter if their officials come or not,
they will see the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics.”
“Sports has nothing to do with politics,” Wang said. “It is
they who have written, directed and performed this farce.”
China is confident there will be no chain reaction, and
perceives overwhelming global support for the games, he said.
“As of now, numerous heads of state, leaders of government
and royal family members have registered to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics,
and we welcome them,” Wang said. “China is committed to making greater
contributions to the international Olympic cause and will offer up a
streamlined, safe and exciting Olympics to the world.”
China has vowed to respond to the U.S. with “firm
countermeasures” over the boycott, but has given no details on how it plans to
retaliate.
Rights groups have called for a total boycott of the Beijing
Winter Games, citing Chinese human rights abuses against its Uyghur minority in
the northwest Xinjiang region, which some have called genocide. They also point
to Beijing’s suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kong and a sweeping
crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous territory.
Canada’s move came as little surprise in the context of the
sharp deterioration in bilateral ties since China arrested two Canadians in
December 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’
chief financial officer and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S.
extradition request.
Canada and others condemned what they called “hostage
politics,” while China described the charges against Huawei and Meng as a
politically motivated attempt to hold back China’s economic and technological
development.
China, the U.S. and Canada completed what was essentially a
high-stakes prisoner swap earlier this year, but the Chinese government’s
reputation has been severely tarnished in Canada.
Along with the boycott controversy, the pandemic has dictated that promotional events for the games be relatively low key, particularly when compared to the frenzied campaign launched ahead of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
China that year staged a global torch relay that sparked
violent confrontations along the route between opponents of the ruling
Communists and the party’s supporters. The relay has been canceled entirely
this year.
At Beijing University of Posts and Communications, senior
student Hu Xinran expressed a note of disappointment after waiting in line for
40 minutes to have her picture taken with a somewhat diminished Olympic flame.
“When I heard the flame was coming to our college, I was
expecting it to be on the torch,” Hu said. “But today I only saw a small flame
in a lantern.”
“I think the torch relay like that for Beijing 2008 was much
more interesting. In my opinion, that was more fun.”
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