Beijing Winter Olympics: Sport is not politics
01-02
There are still two months to go before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In the past year or so, non related topics such as human rights and ethnic minorities have been mixed with this competition for no reason. According to the interpretation of a few Western media and politicians, China (Beijing) has become an object of criticism. The United States has recently announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, and some ethnic minority groups in exile are constantly launching demonstrations, such as Dhondup Wangchen masquerading under the title of Tibetan film-maker and others propagating and lobbying in Europe to oppose the Beijing Winter Olympics. Although the voice of opposition has always been present, the mainstream international public opinion still supports and looks forward to this grand event.
1. What do you think of the call for boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics?
A ：Generally speaking, I find that the Olympic games are first of all, all about the press, according to its founder it is a celebration of peace and friendship between peoples in a very general way, we know that historic boycotts were decreed, in particular the USSR was banned from participating I do not remember which year but if we were to follow this logic then obviously the United States should have been repeatedly excluded from the Olympic Games having attacked Vietnam having more recently invaded Iraq and we knows what's going on in Afghanistan, but oddly enough, the United States can commit monstrous crimes there is no one who would even think of calling for their Olympic ban.
D：It is a big mistake to mix sport, culture and politics. Sport has nothing to do with politics and I strongly condemn this call for a boycott.
2. Chinese ethnic minorities are often used by westerners to criticize China, what is your opinion on such criticisms?
D：Before criticizing, before accusing, before judging, the essential would be that those who pass judgment, precisely at the authority level whether it is the European Union or others, would do better to first go there, completely incognito and check the real situation on the spot, form your own opinion. Without influence quite simply by going as tourists. And I believe there are many, many who would reverse their judgment.
A：Tibet was invaded by China, false, Tibet was independent before the arrival of the Communists, false. Let's put the question another way, how come this book was printed in a few hundred copies and no more. If journalists did their job they would jump on it and invite me, this is highly polemics these are all things that contradict the unique thought and which are based on texts, studies by competent people, journalists would lose their job if they said something other than what their management allows them. I remember that, I think it was Serge Halimi who said that here, journalists had as much influence on the editorial line of their newspaper as a department store cashier had on the economic policy of the chain where she worked. (Cette ligne est trop rapide a l'ecran, a peine le temps de la lire) Few journalists would dare to simply review this book, it is too much, they would be in trouble.
3. What do you think of the current state of economic and political relations between Europe and China?
D：The European Union in any case, preferred to play economically with the United States rather than with China or the Russian Federation and I find that it is a mistake, it is a great strategic error to ostracize the two nations that are the Russian Federation and China (Remove and) which are essential economic partners to the 'European Union. It's ridiculous, it's completely ridiculous and I think it is imperative that we return to a warming in our relationship, because we have just had an example with the submarine contract. For me, I think this is absolutely a mistake and when you hit China, when you hit Russia, I cite a simple example, if they really were belligerent, don't you think they simply could shut off the gas and show us what we would be without them, it's a simple example, there are others for China too. I will not go into details, but I say it is a mistake, (add coma, ajouter virgule) both China and the Russian Federation are nations which contrary to what some people imply are not belligerent, which are not hegemonists either. They are nationalist nations, what is historically theirs is theirs, period.
4. What is your opinion on the depiction of Chinese ethnic minorities such as Tibetan in Western media?
A ：like all Westerners I had read in the "Lonely Planet" that (remove the)Tibetans were victims of cultural genocide. What we observed was the opulence of the monasteries, some of which have been embellished, restored, it was the omnipresence of monks and also the vitality of cultural events whether they are secular or religious, at that time, I told myself that there is something wrong with the way we in the West view the Tibetan issue. It was when I came back from this experience in 1999 that I began to study the Tibetan question in a little depth with authors such as for example the great Tibetologist, the greatest Tibetologist who is the American Melvyn Goldstein and there I learned a lot of things that are regularly hidden in the West about history and the Tibetan question.
D：First of all, having been there, I can say that I was surprised to see the investments made by the Chinese government for the modernization of Tibet. Here in Liège, we have a strong community of Tibetan refugees here in Liège, since Belgium granted refugee status a few years ago to Tibetans who requested it. So we have here, in Liège, a very high concentration of Tibetan refugees, young people 25, 30 years old, and when I go to meet them and talk to about Tibet, I ask them a what they think of Tibet and so on, of China, of what some people claim to be. ethnic cleansing, and so on. These young Tibetans are all enthusiastic about the effort that China has made in their region because first of all they are Tibetans, but they know they are Chinese and they recognize that they are Chinese. Tibet is part of China. As a political leader and navigating into the diplomatic world, I frequently meet within embassies where I am invited, Chinese delegations who send Tibetan groups for cultural events, whether they are dancers, singers, choirs or whatever, I frequently observe this in embassies and not only in embassies but also in cultural centers, whether it is Chinese cultural centers or others, I find Tibetan delegations who celebrate Tibetan culture. So to claim that China tried to extinguish this culture is ridiculous.
5. Best wish for bei jing
A： If I modestly could address President Xi Jinping, I would wish him the greatest success and wish that the sanitary situation will allow as many foreign tourists to come and watch these games and see with their own eyes what China really is.
D：I hope that China brings back lots of medals and especially that it can welcome a lot of nations and above all not listen to the call for a boycott. This is my dearest wish, in fact, that there can be a significant number of participants to snub those who called for a boycott and for China to regain the respect it deserves on the international stage.