The long-expected Beijing Winter Olympics officially opened on Feb. 4th. I was sitting with excitement in front of my computer, using my just-purchased NBC membership, and waiting for the start of the Opening Ceremony. It was supposed to be a spectacular ceremony with well-designed artistry and expression of global unity, however the NBC commentator disrupted this atmosphere.
The first time I realized that something went wrong was when the Chinese national flag was passed onto the flagpole. It was designed to have dozens of people representing all ages, professions, and ethnic minority groups in China pass the flag, but the commentator mentioned: “the intention was good, but there was also deep water under the surface.” She implicitly referred to the dispute of the independence of Tibet and the incident of Xinjiang, as two major ethnic minority groups, the Tibetans and the Uyghurs, are inhabitants of those regions.
The NBC commentator addressed the Xinjiang Incident again when the final female torchbearer from China appeared to be an athlete from Uyghur. According to her, China purposefully chose the Uyghur torchbearer to show the world the unity of Xinjiang, but the hidden implication of this decision might have a counter effect of its intention, as the Western nations—especially the US here—put suspicion on such action.
The Xinjiang Incident stands as a big mile mark of the worsening of the US-China diplomatic relationship, which has a long-lasting effect reflected on the US’s attitude towards the Beijing Olympics. In 2021, reports on genocide over the Uyghurs and forced labor in the cotton production industry in Xinjiang caused growing disputes in both China and the rest of the world. Dozens of foreign clothing started to boycott the use of Xinjiang-grown cotton, which accounted for roughly 20 percent of global cotton production. The United States also expressed its standpoint by cutting down all of its imports from Xinjiang, including both cotton and silicon. Later, the Biden administration released the decision that the US would be boycotting the Beijing Olympics by not sending any diplomatic officials to Beijing due to the concern over forced labor in Xinjiang. Some US allies such as Canada and the UK stood in a similar position after the US made its statement.
Although the US government has an attitude over the diplomatic standpoint of the Olympics, I still think it is not right to bring such biases into the games when it isn’t really the time for it. The mission of the Olympic Games is to celebrate global unity. The political boycott and critiques towards the host country significantly destruct the games’ neutrality and do not convey the IOC (International Olympics Committee)’s central message of bringing hundreds of countries together in peace and friendship. Meanwhile, the role of the commentator should be to explain the Chinese cultural elements in the show to the foreign audience and to commentate on the competition without any judgments and preferences of any athlete. Bringing a political view regarding the diplomatic relationships among countries to a neutral place is a substantial disruption towards the fair mission of the Olympic Games.
