Chinese Foreign Ministry Accuses US of Inducing Athletes to Sabotage Winter Olympics

A police officer stands guard inside the closed loop bubble for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics near the main media center at the Olympic Park in Beijing, on Jan. 29, 2022. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

China’s foreign ministry has supported claims made in the China Daily newspaper that the United States is encouraging and bribing athletes to compete “passively” and conduct acts of “sabotage” at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The allegations were refuted by the U.S. embassy in China and were ridiculed on Chinese social media.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Saturday backed accusations made by unnamed sources used in the Chinese Communist Party’s China Daily report the day before.

The report “exposed the real intention of some Americans to politicize sports and to sabotage and interfere with the Beijing Winter Olympics,” the spokesmen told Reuters.

The alleged plan included the U.S. inciting athletes from various countries to criticize China, to compete half-heartedly, or even not to participate in the competition.

A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in China denied the claims in an email to Reuters.

“We were not and are not coordinating a global campaign regarding participation at the Olympics,” the U.S. spokesperson said.

“U.S. athletes are entitled to express themselves freely in line with the spirit and charter of the Olympics, which includes advancing human rights,” the spokesperson added.

This comes as the United States is one of a number of nations conducting a diplomatic boycott of the Games to protest ongoing human rights abuses in China committed by the ruling communist regime.

Human rights groups gather on the U.N.'s International Human Rights Day to call for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, in front of the Bank of China building in Taipei, Taiwan, on Dec. 10, 2021. Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo

Online Response

The incident has sparked heated discussions on mainland Chinese social media platform Weibo, with many netizens satirizing the Chinese regime’s allegations.

A netizen with the online name of “Fruit Yogurt” said: “It’s like when thieves see people installing security doors, they usually shout in exasperation, ‘you all have persecution paranoia! How can there be thieves in the world?’”

Another posted: “The Chinese elites are trying their best to move to the United States. Are they fools?”

Netizen “Yu Doumi” said, “Who is the source? The British media reported that a Chinese military expert defected to the West. Is this true or false? It is also said that it was revealed by an anonymous source.”

Another one also questioned, “Who is the source? ... It’s Mr. Wilson Edwards.“ Last year, a number of state media in China reprinted an article by ”Swiss biologist Wilson Edwards” to refute the CCP virus that came from a Wuhan laboratory. Later Switzerland clarified that it had no Swiss citizen with that name in China. It soon became evident that it was a fake identity created for propaganda purposes.