Beijing Spectators at the National Stadium in Beijing and on television sets around the world witnessed a major production on Friday. But the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was not remarkable because of the rousing choreography, the impressive fireworks or the cute children’s dance groups.
Rather, it was the geopolitical environment and massive display of Chinese propaganda that made the launch event a bizarre play that couldn’t have been further from reality.
Thomas Bach acted as the main protagonist in this production. The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) turned to the Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and thanked China for the “safe” games before the eyes of the world public.
The question is: Safe for whom? Human rights activists were removed from Beijing weeks before the opening ceremony. Just before the start of the kick-off event, the Dutch journalist Sjoerd den Daas, longtime renowned China correspondent, was harassed by a security guard at a booth near the national stadium and prevented from working – live on Dutch television.
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The geopolitical environment in which the opening ceremony took place also showed all the cynicism of the event. On the day when Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi announce their alliance against the West at a meeting, John Lennon’s song “Imagine” is playing in the “Bird’s Nest”, which dreams of a world without nations. While Putin’s soldiers are waiting for the marching orders on the border with Ukraine, Xi has hundreds of children jumping around happily with peace doves in a mass choreography on the huge square in the stadium.
Bach makes himself part of Chinese propaganda
Bach plays the role of defender of the Chinese government’s interests to the last detail. He is outraged when governments cancel their participation in the Olympic Games because of China’s human rights violations or the sometimes grotesque safety precautions for corona prevention.
But when Xi unabashedly uses the sporting event for his propaganda, he doesn’t say a word. For example, the Chinese government let one of the soldiers, who is considered a national hero for his action in the clash with Indian soldiers in 2020, run with him during the torch relay – a slap in the face to the Indians.
The audience was also part of the play: the spectators always clapped and cheered where Xi wanted to see them clapping. The teams of Pakistan and Russia received cheers. Hong Kong, which is now in the grip of Beijing, was also applauded. And of course the Chinese team. Otherwise: extensive silence. The audience response was no coincidence. Only invited guests were allowed in the stadium and they knew what they had to do.
Many of the propaganda elements that Xi had incorporated into the choreography are likely to have remained hidden from Western viewers. Even the harmless-sounding motto of the Olympic Games, “Together for a shared future,” stems from a central slogan of party propaganda.
The targeted display of China’s ethnic minorities was intended to defuse criticism from abroad that the authorities oppress them. For example, at the opening ceremony, the Chinese flag was passed from one person to another in a long chain by several dozen people in different costumes.
One of the two athletes who lit the flame for the eyes of millions of television viewers around the world was Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a Uyghur cross-country skier from western China’s Xinjiang province — where China has been accused of sending the Uyghur Muslim minority to re-education camps . Look here, was the message to the world at the opening ceremony, everything is harmonious with us.
>>Read also: Putin meets Xi in Beijing: Together against the West
And then there is the matter of the winter sports nation of China. There are 300 million winter sports enthusiasts in the People’s Republic – Bach emphasizes this number again and again, also in his speech at the opening ceremony. With this number, both the IOC and China pat themselves on the back. But the Chinese government also wants to use it to show that you can’t get past us, there are many of us. What already applies to the car market will soon also apply to winter sports. If you want to be part of this business, you better get on well with us.
The IOC President apparently has no problem participating in China’s Olympic staging.
(Photo: imago images/Xinhua)
According to experts, this number is completely out of thin air. The only thing that is certain is that there are not 300 million people in the People’s Republic who do winter sports. Thomas Bach likes to parrot the number anyway.
At the end of the event it can be said with certainty: Yes, the Olympic Games in Beijing are political. But not because human rights organizations denounce the oppression of the Muslim Uyghur minority or because governments stay away from them for this reason. But because China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping uses them for his political purposes – with the active support of the IOC.
More: The IOC President and China’s head of state – a delicate relationship