Germany is attending the CCP’s Winter Olympics, despite the country’s Chancellor declaring he has no intention of travelling himself.
While the country’s Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has declared that he has no plans to travel to the Genocide Games, Germany’s athletes will be attending the CCP’s Winter Olympics, taking place in Beijing.
Scholz’s pronouncement comes as other countries worldwide pledge a so-called “diplomatic boycott” of the games, despite still sending sportsmen to compete in Beijing under their national banners.
According to a report by Deutsche Welle, Scholz has declared that he will not be turning up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, though reportedly did not give a reason as to why.
“I have no travel plans, so it cannot be assumed that I will suddenly turn up,” the chancellor reportedly said, without explanation.
The Chancellor’s apparent snub of the games follows announcements made by other senior German ministers, who said that they would not attend the games for personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Markus Söder, the Minister-President of Germany’s Bavaria region, has urged German officials to attend the games being held by the Chinese Communist Party, which has been accused of conducting a genocide against its minority Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
“I believe that German foreign policy should remain in the conversation, even if skeptically,” the regional leader said.
While Germany’s politicians may not be attending the Genocide Games, their athletes certainly are, with German media doing profile pieces on a number of notable names representing the country.
However, whatever the views of these athletes, none will be able easily to criticise the Chinese government, with communist party officials promising to punish athletes who speak out.
“Any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I’m sure will be protected and anything and any behaviour or speeches that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment,” China’s Yang Shu ominously threatened.
China is also requiring that all athletes, journalists and spectator’s attending the games download an app that allows the user to report “politically sensitive” to Chinese Communist officials.
This has prompted both authorities in the UK and US to recommend that athletes leave their smartphones at home due to security concerns, with the UK’s British Olympic Association even offering to provide temporary devices to facilitate such a move.
A research team from the University of Toronto has appeared to vindicate these fears, claiming that the app is reportedly filled with a number of gaping security issues, and that there are “several scenarios” in which the app will disclose information to third parties without the user’s consent.
“We find that the app’s security deficits may not only violate Google’s Unwanted Software Policy and Apple’s App Store guidelines but also China’s own laws and national standards pertaining to privacy protection,” the report by the University of Toronto researchers concluded.