中文
Chinese ice hockey players celebrate after winning their Beijing Winter Olympics women's Group B match over Japan at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing, capital of China, February 6, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]
By William Jones
While NATO and the Western countries have sent more troops to the borders of Russia and phony rumors of war proliferate in the Western media, reminiscent of the gladiatorial spirit of the ancient Roman Empire, in China the humanist spirit of the ancient Greeks is being revived in the Beijing Winter Olympics, that successor to the noble Greek pastime in which athletes from all Greek city-states would come together under the Olympic Truce to demonstrate their physical prowess in peaceful endeavors attempting to achieve the wreath of victory based on the highest achievements.
The difference in these two distinct paradigms, that of the warlike Romans and that of the peace-loving Greeks, could not be clearer to the world at this moment. While the Biden administration has done its best to force a "boycott" by Western governments and other officials from attending the traditional opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics Games based on their phony claims of human rights abuses in China, few countries actually participated in the formal "boycott."
Many, however, not willing to become targets of U.S. wrath, decided not to attend on various pretexts, but are no doubt following the developments with great interest. At the same time, over 30 world leaders and organizations' heads and over 170 representatives from nearly 70 countries, regions and international organizations attended the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing.
Given the importance of the Games for all the countries, whose athletes were committed to participate, there was wide-spread coverage of the beautiful opening ceremony and the individual events, even in the biased U.S. media, which, however, couldn't refrain from totally extraneous comments regarding human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the now-abandoned one-child policy and the usual laundry list of false accusations.
Mascots to be awarded to winning athletes of the women's snowboard slopestyle final at the Beijing Winter Olympics during the flower ceremony at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, north China's Hebei Province, February 6, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]
The opening ceremony, which film director Zhang Yimou endowed with a wide pastiche of items from traditional Chinese culture, could give the athletes from all over the world, as well as the home viewers, a sense of China, which was totally contrary to what was spread almost universally by the Western media.
The official motto of the Beijing Olympics, "Together for a Shared Future," also clearly reflects the notion which has been a hallmark of Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision for the world in his call for working together to build a community of shared future for mankind.
Even the speech by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, Thomas Bach, at the beginning of the ceremonies, went further than the realm of sports in calling for the Olympic spirit to become the basis for a more peaceful world: "In this Olympic spirit of peace, I appeal to all political authorities across the world: observe your commitment to this Olympic Truce. Give peace a chance."
The hope he expressed was no doubt that this truce would last far beyond the 2022 Winter Olympics. The presence of both the United Nations Secretary-General and the Director of the World Health Organization also underlined the important support the perspective outlined by China's leader is getting from the international community.
As President Xi said in his welcoming comments to the IOC on February 3, "The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready" - ready to deliver a safe and successful Winter Olympics in this age of COVID-19, and ready to take on its responsibility for maintaining peace and stability in the world.
The way the Western media is grumbling over the success of the opening ceremony and the very holding of the Winter Olympics in this time of COVID-19, as well as the laudatory remarks coming from around the world in praise of the Beijing Olympics, shows the folly of the short-sighted attempt by the Biden administration to utilize such a hallowed institution like the Olympics for their petty political carping.
As more and more people "turn their eyes to China," they will quickly realize how false a narrative of China and its people has been foisted on them by the lying Western media.
The "torch" of peace has been lit in Beijing in spite of the efforts by the Biden administration to quench it. In addition, the important meetings between President Xi and numerous other world leaders, particularly the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on issues of peace and development, will assure that the Olympic spirit also takes hold in the larger global political arena.
The author is the former White House correspondent for Executive Intelligence Review and a non-resident Fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.
