US tramples on hopes for global unity by boycotting Beijing Olympics

To the utter surprise of analysts and observers, the more China is moving ahead in the global arena, the more the US is getting wild and making obvious moves to deter China’s expedition toward continued development and further achievements. In doing so, the US has no problem even with sowing the seeds of discord in the international community. How much lower can the country stoop to in its attempt to deter China? Well, the US has proven this once again by diplomatically boycotting the Beijing 2022 Winter and Paralympic Games. 

The rest of the world has not joined the US in its so-called boycott and with the US having been sidelined over the issue in the wider global community. But this has not stopped the US from showing its true colors to the people of the world. People have realized that the superpower sheds crocodile tears for human rights and that its intermittent uproars and outcries prove hollow in the end. If the US cares even a little about humanity and human rights, it should not try to polarize the world in the name of boycotting the Beijing Olympics during a time when the world needs stronger unity more than ever due to the horrific onslaughts of the coronavirus pandemic.

People accurately think that the US has stabbed the effort toward global unity in the back and trampled on universal hopes for concerted fights against the pandemic. The superpower has futilely tried to drive mankind back to an uncivilized ancient age because even in the civilized ancient age, people used to maintain a truce and did not attack their enemies during the Olympics.

The US has also pushed back against the goals, core values and spirit of the Olympics. One of the goals of the Olympic Games is to educate young people through sport to develop a spirit of better understanding toward each other and friendship, thereby helping to build a better and more peaceful world. With the goal of the Olympics being to forge friendship for a better world, how can the US speak of boycotting it?

In the spirit of the three values of Olympism—excellence, friendship and respect—the goal of the Games is to help foster better relationships between communities and nations, helping people to live in harmony with each other. By diplomatically boycotting the Beijing Olympics, the US has also breached the key values of the Games.

Moreover, on July 20, 2021, the 138th session of the International Olympic Committee approved a change in the Olympic motto that recognizes the unifying power of sport and the importance of solidarity. The change added the word ‘together’ after a dash to the previous motto of ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’. The new Olympic motto now reads: ‘Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together’.

The importance of unity and solidarity is also reflected in the IOC’s global campaign, entitled ‘Stronger Together’. The campaign emphasizes the IOC’s message of solidarity and the belief that the world can move forward only when it moves together, as well as the irresistible power of the Olympic Games to unite people. But unfortunately the US has proven that it doesn’t give a tinker's dam to the much-sought-after goals of global unity and solidarity.

Some US politicians are hyping a boycott of the Beijing Games. But the media has reported that China never planned to invite US and Western politicians who hyped the boycott. According to Olympic rules, officials are invited by their respective National Olympic Committee to attend the Olympic Games, so whether the US officials will come to the Beijing Olympics or not is the US’ own business. But, despite not even being invited, the US announcement of a diplomatic boycott made the superpower a laughing stock of the world.

Though the US is sparing in no efforts to spoil the successful holding of the Beijing Winter and Paralympics, China has made all-out preparations for ensuring the world’s foremost sporting event is a success, with the country having already earned global accolades after holding the Summer Olympics in its capital in 2008. Despite thoroughgoing antagonisms hatched by the US, China has already won the hearts and minds of people from around the world with its painstaking arrangements for the Games. The world is now waiting for the historic success of the Beijing Olympics, which would be yet another slap in the face of the Western superpower. 

Md Enamul Hassan is a news editor at China Media Group in Beijing, China.  

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of People’s Daily Online.