Beijing (AP) – The spokeswoman for China’s Olympic organizers responded to critical questions from international media representatives with sharp rebukes.
Reports about camps for the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province are nothing but “lies,” Yan Jiarong said in a notable press conference at the Beijing Winter Games. The spokeswoman, who was otherwise often silent in her daily rounds with journalists, spoke several times unasked to Mark Adams, spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, to present China’s political position.
Adams had previously said, among other things, when asked about how to deal with the Uyghurs in northwest China: “These are issues outside of the games, these are questions for other people.” According to estimates by human rights activists, hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs have been sent to re-education camps, which Beijing describes as “further education institutions”. Adams once again referred to the political neutrality of the IOC.
Yan Jiarong also emphasized several times that politics should not be mixed up with sport. However, when asked about Taiwan’s participation in the opening ceremony, she also intervened with a political statement in the spirit of China’s leadership: “I would like to emphasize that there is only one China in the world. Taiwan is participating here as part of China and is an inseparable part of China.”
Under pressure from China, Taiwan participates in Olympic Games as “Chinese Taipei”. The IOC also always avoids the word Taiwan in its statements. The communist leadership in China regards Taiwan only as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it.