IOC President Thomas Bach met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Saturday, with the two men expressing opposition to the “politicization of sport,” according to official media.
“China will never stop spreading the Olympic spirit,” Li told the head of the International Olympic Committee, according to comments by state broadcaster CCTV.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach speaks during an IOC executive board meeting in Lausanne March 28, 2023. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP.
“We stand ready to work with the IOC to counteract the politicization of sport and make new and greater contributions to the Olympic movement,” he added.
Bach said the IOC was ready to defend the Olympic spirit and oppose the politicization of the sport, according to CCTV, and reiterated the IOC’s traditional position.
According to the Olympic Charter, which calls for the movement’s political neutrality, “No demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda of any kind is permitted at any Olympic site, venue or other location.”
Ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, China had been criticized for its treatment of Uyghurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region, which has been plagued by attacks blamed on minority Muslim separatists and Islamists.
Beijing has tightly controlled the local population in the name of fighting extremism.
China’s Premier Li Qiang waves after a news conference following the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 13, 2023. Photo by Greg Baker/AFP.
China has been accused for years of imprisoning more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in the region. Beijing has vehemently denied the allegations.
A few months before the games, tennis player Peng Shuai, a former world doubles number one, claimed in a social media post that a former Chinese vice premier forced her to have sex during a multi-year relationship, but has since denied accusing anyone of the sexual assault.
The WTA, which oversees women’s tennis, then announced the suspension of its tournaments in China in late 2021 over concerns about the safety of Peng, who had not been seen outside of China since she made her allegations and then retracted them.
China condemned the boycott as “politicizing sport”.
The ban was lifted last month.
Peng appeared briefly as a spectator at the Winter Games, where she met Bach.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the IOC President will travel to the eastern cities of Hangzhou and Shanghai in the coming days.
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