On February 1, the Dhaka Tribune published an op-ed by Ambassador Li Jiming titled Beijing Winter Olympics: Together for a Shared Future in celebration of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The full text of the article is as follows:
Within a few days, with the long-awaited Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics kicking off, and the Olympic flame once again lighting up, Beijing is to become the first city ever to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics in the world. Although there is no snow here in Bangladesh, there are still a few things about this Games that you might be interested to know.
A Safe Olympic Games
Naturally, professional medical teams and helicopters are ready to provide immediate rescue service for competitors in snow sports as usual. However, given the still severe and complicated global epidemic situation, it is surely a huge challenge for organizing the world's largest comprehensive winter sports right now. After a meticulous preparation process, Beijing is now ready to present a healthy Olympic Games to the world. In order to curb possible spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of Olympic participants and the Chinese people, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) has established an international working group with the IOC and the WHO. Drawing on China's successful experience in the fight against COVID-19 and that of major international competitions held in the past and at present, BOCOG has published the Beijing 2022 Playbooks, which will be the guide to ensure a safe and secure Games for participants and the people of China.
The regulations in the Playbooks, made in light of the latest scientific conclusions and expert guidance and in reference to the experience of other international events, are believed to be essential to mitigate the risks and impact of the pandemic and will be strictly followed. All Olympics-involved individuals should be fully vaccinated. A closed-loop management system will be put in place throughout the stay of all athletes, officials and other people associated with the Games.
Brian McCloskey, chair of the Beijing 2022 Medical Expert Panel, praised the effectiveness of the closed-loop system of the Games at a media conference on January 29th, and said that he believed in the safety of the Games. According to McCloskey, the target has never been zero cases but zero spread, to achieve which Beijing has built multiple layers of protection to prevent the COVID-19 virus from spreading into China through the Games.
A Green Olympic Games
If a color is to chosen to represent the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, it must be green, since the Games has strictly implemented low-carbon management. Committed to holding a carbon-neutral Olympics, Beijing has made a valuable innovation and breakthrough: All venues are powered by renewable energy for the first time at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Environment-friendly refrigerants, instead of the harmful substance Freon, and carbon dioxide ice-making technology are used at Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics ice venues, which is the first time this low climate impact technology been used in China and at the Olympic Winter Games. The latest technology can save energy by more than 20 percent compared with traditional refrigeration methods.
The special designed low-carbon transportation system has been built to carry out carbon offsets. Energy-saving and clean-energy vehicles will account for 100 percent of all passenger cars and 85 percent of all the vehicles.
A Popular Olympic Games
Getting 300 million people involved in winter sports is a promise made by China in its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. As a country with a vast territory and diverse natural conditions, winter sports used to be confined mainly to the northern parts of China with abundant snow and ice resources. Surprisingly, I found that even in my hometown Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province where the temperature is similar to Bangladesh these days, many newly-built winter sport venues are available. Thanks to the innovation brought by economic and technological development, winter sports has been easily accessible and affordable nationwide due to the increasingly mature ice-making technology. Also, ecological snow-making technologies have prompted booming indoor and outdoor ski resorts in southern China.
Nowadays, winter sports have become a leisurely and fashionable entertainment among the Chinese people. According to statistics released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on 12th January, over 346 million Chinese people have participated in winter sports since Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, which means we have hit the target of engaging 300 million people in winter sports. Now in China, winter sports have a solid foundation. China's promotion of the popularization and development of ice and snow sports will surely add a new aspect to global winter sports.
A Sustainable Olympic Games
Beijing's vision of hosting sustainable Winter Olympics is materializing in a grand way, and we hope the venues and projects could keep promoting sports and social and economic development after the sporting gala closes.
On 13th January,BOCOG released its Pre-Games Sustainability Report, which shows that except for the newly built National Speed Skating Oval and Big Air Shougang, all other venues in Beijing are legacies from the 2008 Olympics. The highlight is not about refurbishing old venues and turning them into something totally different. It’s about diversifying the functions of those venues and making them compatible for various purposes while expanding their businesses.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said, this report shows that Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics recognizes its responsibility to integrate sustainability principles throughout all stages of the Games' preparation.
On 25th January, President Xi Jinping met with President Thomas Bach and pointed out that, after more than six years of preparations and now with everything falling into place, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will be held on schedule as promised. This is the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that a comprehensive global sporting event is held as scheduled. President Bach, impressed by the outstanding venues, thorough COVID-19 countermeasures and advanced concept of sustainability, expressed full confidence that the strong measures taken by China will ensure the delivery of a safe, smooth and successful Games.
A United Olympic Games
The Winter Games are a stage for athletes, not a runway for politics. The Beijing Winter Olympics is going to be a united Olympic Games. On December 2nd 2021, the 76th session of the UN General Assembly adopted a consensus resolution, co-sponsored by 173 member states, for a truce for Beijing 2022. The Group of 20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation also affirmed support for the Games in joint declarations and communiqués.
Its unity could also been seen from lots of international dignitaries attending the opening ceremony and relevant activities. There are 25 heads of state, heads of government, members of the royal family and 7 heads of international organizations attending the Games, including President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Andrzej Duda of Poland, President Alberto Fernández of Argentina, Presidents from the five Central Asian countries, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, Prime Minister L. Oyun-Erdene of Mongolia, National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-Seug of the Republic of Korea, President Thomas Bach of the IOC, Secretary-General António Guterres of the UN, and Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the WHO and so on.
We believe the universal sports spirit will bring together peace, solidarity, hope and courage to light the way for humankind to join hands in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and provide a stage for building a community with a shared future for humankind. Just as Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics official motto: “Together for A Shared Future”.
The Olympic flame will be dancing to the drumbeat of the upcoming Chinese Year of the Tiger in a few days. We hope that all Olympians will excel themselves in the competition like soaring dragons and leaping tigers in Beijing, and the international Olympic cause will move forward by leaps and bounds and contribute vitality to realizing world peace and development.
Beijing is ready to welcome members of the Olympic family from all over the world. I take this opportunity to wish them the best of luck. Let’s enjoy the Games.
Links of the article: https://www.dhakatribune.com/longform/2022/02/01/beijing-winter-olympics-together-for-a-shared-future-1