Beijing Winter Games
“These questions are based on lies”: China’s Olympic spokeswoman rebukes journalists
“May I make some additional comments?”: China’s Olympic spokeswoman Yan Jiarong, here at a press conference in Beijing in early February.
© Xue Yuge / Picture Alliance
It was the last of the daily Olympic press conferences in Beijing – and it was a tough one: the spokeswoman for the Chinese organizers of the Winter Games repeatedly intervened and made political statements.
Politics is actually a taboo subject for the organizers of the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. So far, the spokeswoman for China’s Olympic organizers has mainly been noticed by her silence in the daily rounds with journalists. It’s about sport, we don’t talk about these things, that’s the attitude of the officials.
That suddenly changed three days before the end of the games. At the Beijing Organizing Committee’s last scheduled daily press conference on Thursday, Yan Jiarong spoke several times without being asked to present China’s political position. She reacted with sharp rebukes to critical questions from international media representatives, which were actually addressed to the spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, Mark Adams.
Spokeswoman calls Taiwan “indivisible part of China”
After a journalist questioned Adams about Taiwan’s alleged attempt to skip the opening ceremony, Yan Jiarong asked for additional time to address the status of the self-governing island. “Mark, may I make a few additional comments?” She chimed in, continuing: “Taiwan is an indivisible part of China, and this is an accepted international principle that is also recognized in the international community.” Then she added: “We are always against the idea of politicizing the Olympics.”
Adams was then asked by a non-Chinese reporter if Yan Jiarong himself had “politicized” the Games by raising China’s stance on Taiwan. The IOC spokesman refused to give a clear answer: “There are different opinions on all sorts of things around the world, but our job is to make sure the games take place,” he said.
Under pressure from China, Taiwan participates in Olympic Games as “Chinese Taipei”. The IOC also always avoids the word Taiwan in its statements. The communist leadership in China regards Taiwan only as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it.
According to the IOC spokesman, Uyghurs are not an issue for the Olympics
China’s handling of the Uyghur Muslim minority was also discussed in the remarkable press conference: a reporter asked Adams directly about the IOC’s position on the reports of the existence of “concentration camps” in Xinjiang and whether there was forced labor there. Adams responded that the question was “not particularly relevant” to the briefing. “These are issues outside of the Games, these are questions for other people,” he explained, before praising the power of the Olympics to unite people.
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Yan then again made sure China’s point of view was heard: “I think these questions are based on lies,” she said. “Some authorities have already disputed this false information. There is a lot of solid evidence. You are welcome to refer to all this evidence and facts.”
Human rights activists accuse China of forcing at least one million Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang to give up their religion, culture and language in “re-education camps” and in some cases of physically abusing them. The USA and other countries are now talking about a “genocide”. Beijing, on the other hand, describes the camps as “further training facilities”.
Sources: AFP, Associated Press