BEIJING – With a year to go before the 2022 Winter Olympics, construction of the athletes ’city is in full swing near Beijing National Stadium. Red flags throughout the site encourage staff “not to stop for one minute; not to err in one step; without delay one day. “
The Chinese capital and the nearby city of Zhangjiakou will host 109 events for the winter games starting February 4, 2022. All 12 competing venues have been built or refurbished, the Beijing city government has said .
President Xi Jinping is now stepping up vaccination and testing for the coronavirus towards the success of the games, which have an official budget of $ 1.56 billion. However, the widespread and international pressure on China’s human rights agenda provides insight into the event.
Last Friday afternoon, dozens of emergency vehicles from fire trucks to police cars entered the Oval National Skating Oval parking lot as part of a combined drill for emergencies at the center.
Xi visited several Olympic venues in January, where he told ski jumping athletes that China has world-class talent in a number of sports.
Successful preparation for the 2022 games shows obvious strengths in the leadership of the Communist Party and in China’s socialist system, Xi said.
A key part of that preparation is free vaccines against the coronavirus.
Of Beijing’s approximately 21 million residents, about 1.9 million – mostly high-risk people such as medical professionals and police officers – have received their first dose and are expected to receive their second. before Monday.
“Chinese authorities say the vaccines are voluntary, but you really have no choice if you work in high-visibility fields such as logistics,” said a Beijing-based Japanese office worker. -currently.
The city also cut the price for a PCR test to 80 yuan ($ 12.40) from 120 yuan at the end of January, in the hope that wider testing will help limit the spread of the virus. Group exams at workplaces are even cheaper, at 20 Yuan per person. Results will be delivered via smartphone within 24 hours.
In addition to setting the groundwork at home, Xi is keeping a close eye on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics scheduled for this summer. If these games are canceled because of the coronavirus, China could be under more pressure than the winter games in Beijing that were postponed or postponed.
China is willing to join the International Olympic Committee as well as other countries in ensuring safe and smooth hosting at the Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics, Xi told IOC President Thomas Bach on Jan. 25, according to the state-run Xinhua. News Agency.
IOC Vice President Yu Zaiqing visited the Japanese embassy in Beijing in mid-January, where he expressed his support for the Tokyo games to Japanese ambassador Hideo Tarumi.
But the coronavirus is not the only case casting a shadow over the Olympics in Beijing. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has blocked the boycott of the games over China’s handling of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. More than 160 human rights groups have sent a joint letter to the IOC to reconsider their choice of Beijing as a guest.
China seems to be hoping that by supporting Tokyo’s games this year, it can count on Japanese support for Beijing’s games in 2022.
Xi was vice president of the Beijing Summer Olympics in Beijing, and became chairman of the Communist Party at the party conference four years later. Successful Olympics in 2022 would be a lottery for Xi, who is eyeing a rare third term as president ahead of the party conference later next year.