"Why the hell are we even doing this sport …?” 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics #news -- China Boss update 2.18.22
Update
What happened during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Russian teen Kamila Valieva was cleared to skate despite having tested positive for a banned substance late last year. The World Anti-Doping Agency "accused the Court of Arbitration for Sport of ignoring global rules," according to Nikkei Asia, and a number of tv personalities, commentators, athletes and former athletes decried the decision.
Eileen Gu triumphed with two gold medals in the Women's big air and halfpipe freestyle skiing events. But even Chinese netizens are asking questions about her citizenship. This Sports Illustrated piece by Michael Rosenberg was merciless. And very funny.
SI:
Gu got her gold medal and China got its pawn. It is not clear whether Gu fully understands how thoroughly she is being used. She is only 18 years old. She said she will celebrate her win by eating Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate, playing piano and journaling, and it was easy to see why China wants Gu to be the face of the Olympics—an extremely marketable face, one that makes people forget how China’s government really operates. Gu, who grew up in California, chose to compete for her mother’s native China, and look at that perfect smile. How bad could the government be?
Korean protesters ripped China’s flag to shreds in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul after “two young speed skaters were disqualified from the semi-final of the men’s 1,000m competition, which China eventually won,” the Financial Times reported. J James Kim at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul told FT that several incidents at the Beijing Winter Olympics “encapsulate the concerns that South Koreans have about China: that it doesn’t respect Korean national identity or autonomy, that it doesn’t share their values and that it doesn’t play by the rules,” and have “calcified hostility and mistrust that has been building for years.”
Olympic athletes have been complaining about the lack of access to food and internet in quarantine conditions and flooding in their Olympic Village rooms. China ordered Finnish skiier to delete photos she shared on Instagram “showing water flooding the athlete's village and flowing out of light fixtures at the Winter Olympics,” SCMP reported.
A Chinese ski hub for the Beijing Winter Olympics this week “is facing severe financial problems after embarking on a debt-fuelled investment spree to prepare for the Games,” FT reported. Let’s hope they paid the plumber.
Meanwhile, President Xi “showed off his new friends” from a marathon round of diplomatic “speed dating,” FT reported. Heads of state and representatives who met with Xi hailed from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Poland and Argentina. But the overall headcount of leaders and dignitaries in Beijing paled in comparison to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy Paul Haenle told FT: “There is an excitement for the athletes and for the competition. But it is not an excitement for China.”
Argentina and China “sealed a Silk Road deal” during president Alberto Fernandez's meeting in Beijing with President Xi, according to DW. The Argentinian government said the deal would “allow the national government to sign different agreements that guarantee financing for investments and works for more than $23.7 billion.”
While Argentina is deepening relations with China, India is less keen. Foreign minister S Jaishankar, an official who “is usually very diplomatic” in his messaging on China, made some sharp remarks about Beijing “‘disregarding’ the ‘written agreements’ with India on not massing troops at the border and said it is ‘an issue of legitimate concern for the entire international community,’” according to The Indian Express. New Dehli also began taking a stand against “economic coercion” whilst negotiating a free trade deal with Australia. It banned 54 Chinese apps last week, and tax authorities “raided” Huawei offices in Gurgaon, near the capital.
Finally, Omicron continues to spread through southern China and some hospitals in Hong Kong were overflowing, according to the Wall Street Journal. Last week, “in an unusually direct comment on the city’s policies,” Bloomberg analysts noted, President Xi publicly ordered Hong Kong officials to bring the virus to heel. The China-watching sphere has been lit with speculation ever since as to why President Xi issued his directive so openly. China Boss thinks it’s a propaganda move to contrast Hong Kong’s “failure” to keep locals safe with his authoritarian zero-Covid “success.”
The problem, however, is that Xi is making a faulty comparison as China’s Covid numbers are, undoubtedly, fake. Neither the Chinese media, nor the nation’s medical staff are free to report the true rate of infections, numbers of hospital patients, numbers of special fever clinics and quarantine centers, etc. etc. The two-year anniversary of Dr. Li Wenliang’s passing was February 6th, and folks still flocked to his Weibo account to pay their respects in a “torrent of comments,” the New York Times said. Some vowed to never forget how the government silenced reports of infections, deaths, and human transmission from journalists, doctors, and scientists while covering up the highly contagious coronavirus that ultimately killed Dr. Li along with countless others.
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Last week, an article I wrote on whether there is systemic risk in China’s current debt crisis, how to evaluate it, and why the Chinese government cannot “manage” financial contagion quite as well as Ray Dalio would have you believe :) was published in two parts on Harris Bricken’s China Law Blog. If you get a chance to read either part, or both, I'd be happy to hear your feedback or questions.
Thanks, Bosses! Have a great weekend.