On September 13, 2021, Chinese Consul-General to Rio de Janeiro Tianmin published on O Globo, a Brazilian mainstream newspaper, an article entitled “Joining Hands to Welcome the Winter Olympics and Write a New Chapter in China-Brazil Relations”. The full article runs as follows:
At the recently held Olympic Games in Tokyo, athletes from both China and Brazil scored great results. With 38 gold medals and 88 medals in total, the Chinese delegation topped the gold medal tally and ranked second in total medals, making yet another best record in its Olympic performance overseas. The Brazilian delegation performed equally brilliantly, with 7 gold medals and a total of 21 medals, making a historical record. It is worth special mentioning that the Brazilian men’s football team successfully defended its championship, creating another glorious legend for the nation of football. The two delegations also scored well in the just-concluded Paralympics in Tokyo, ranking first and the seventh respectively. In the Olympic spirit of “higher, faster, stronger and together”, athletes of the two countries, with their outstanding performance and persevering spirit, have won glory for their countries and people and contributed to the Olympic movement.
As the Tokyo Olympic Games drew a close, the Beijing Winter Olympics are getting closer. In February next year, the torch of the Winter Olympics will be lit up in Beijing. Under the requirement of hosting “simple, safe, and wonderful” games, preparations for the Winter Olympics are smoothly under way. Beijing is opening its arms to embrace athletes of winter sports from all over the world.
Beijing Winter Olympics will be simple, but not dull. With the goal of minimum waste, the Winter Games in Beijing will minimize all unnecessary procedures, cut down all non-essential activities and personnel, make the best use of low-carbon, clean and sustainable energy and demonstrate the concept of green Olympics. While ensuring smooth functioning of the Games, the Olympic stadiums will be most effective. The “Water Cube” will be transformed into “Ice Cube”, and the Wukesong Stadium will host both the ice basketball event and ice hockey event. On top of that, the design of the Games’ venues has future use in mind, which is fully dovetailed with local development plans. The speed skating venue adopts a new type of CO2 refrigerant, which has nearly zero emission. The National Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Center has developed a “topographic climate protection system” which minimizes energy consumption. The Zhangjiakou skiing park can restore melted snow to make artificial snow the next year. Wind power and PV power there is connected with Beijing and all the Olympic venues will use “green power”. Through the hosting of energy-saving Winter Games, Beijing will show to the world its sense of responsibility and obligation in dealing with climate change and environmental protection.
The Beijing Games will be a safe gathering. Safety is the red line for any major sports event. COVID-19 is still raging around the world. Countries and international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, hope that China will host the event on time while ensuring that the athletes will not be affected by the pandemic to the largest extent. China has successfully brought the pandemic under control domestically. Whenever imported case-related outbreaks occur, we can reduce the cases to zero within a short period of time. The Organizing Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games has established a joint pandemic response committee with the International Olympic Committee and the World Health Organization. It has also established a special group for controlling local cases with the National Health Commission. Giving full play to both the international and the domestic pandemic response mechanisms, we will take the health and safety of the Olympic athletes as top priority and conduct targeted prevention and control measures with differential tiers, groups and activity areas so as to ensure absolute safety. Besides, during the Winter Games, China will also adopt advanced technologies such as 5G telecommunications and cloud broadcasting to realize weather forecast accurate to the meters in height and to the minute in time so as to safeguard the smooth functioning of the Games.
The Beijing Games will be a wonderful Games. As pointed out by President Xi Jinping, “China will not only stage a successful Games, but also a Games that is featured, splendid and unique.” This is a pledge of China to the world, but also a goal we strive for. Guided by the new development concept featuring innovative, coordinated, green, and open development for all, the Beijing Games will give true meaning to the words that “mountains of ice and snow are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver”. We have met all our set targets and scored new progress in transportation, environmental protection and public services. The ice and snow industry has also enjoyed leap-forward development. Over 300 million people have begun to engage in winter sports, and the 1.4 billion Chinese people are embracing an “ice sports heat”. The international sports committee is fully confident about the success of the Beijing Games. We are looking forward to another “handshake” between China and the Olympics. Chairman Bach of the International Olympic Committee believed that the Beijing Winter Games will become another milestone for the winter sports events of the world.
The Olympic Games is not only a great gathering for the athletes to demonstrate their talents, but has become a great opportunity for people around the world to enhance their understanding and friendship. For some time, however, there has been the tendency of “general politicization” in the international community. Some people have even clamored to “politicize” sports and called for “boycott” of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is a serious violation of the Olympic Charter and the rights and interests of the athletes.” Together” is a new content of the Olympic spirit, which demonstrates the right direction of the Olympic movement. We look forward to more splendid performance of the Brazilian athletes at the Beijing Winter Games. We are ready to work with countries around the world including Brazil to present a simple, safe, and wonderful Games.
China and Rio are the first pair of sister cities between China and Brazil. Both enjoy unique cultural charms and both are closely related to the Olympic movement. Beijing hosted an “unprecedented” Games in 2008 and the Rio Olympics in 2016 was also a resounding success, making Rio the first Latin American city to host the Olympic Games. Both cities have accumulated rich experience in hosting major international sports events, which have also served as bridges for the two peoples to enhance mutual understanding and friendship. The Chinese Consulate-General in Rio is ready to work with our Brazilian friends to take the Beijing Winter Games as a great opportunity to enhance practical cooperation in sports, trade, and culture, among other areas, so as to continuously deepen China-Brazil friendship and bring our comprehensive and strategic partnership to a new height.
