The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 have started, with several democracies, including India being part of a “diplomatic boycott” of the Games, where there is no participation at the government level. Apparently undeterred by this huge loss of face—the boycott must have rankled the Communist Party of China to no end—PRC President Xi Jinping was seen lording over the opening ceremony like King and Emperor, surrounded by a clutch of potentates and authoritarians. Amid this, like the proverbial “jack in the box”, World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sprung up to declare his lusty support for his lord and master, by not only attending the Games, but by also calling the Games a “symbol of hope, unity, solidarity and peace. Those values are needed more than ever as we fight #COVID19 – together”. And all this without a hint of irony. It is as if the country hosting the Games did not bring the world to its knees by unleashing a pandemic that ended lives and livelihoods at a scale not seen after the Second World War. But given the WHO’s own ignominious role, first, in suppressing information about the pandemic, and then working with Beijing to scuttle the probe into the origins of the pandemic, what else was expected of him? The tragedy is that the same man, who is complicit in this PRC-perpetrated genocide, has been nominated for re-election with the backing of democracies such as France and Germany. India too, by the way, is part of the same Executive Board that nominated Tedros. In fact, there was no protest against his renomination even by the United States. At this rate, what justice can the victims and survivors of the ongoing pandemic expect?
The extent of PRC’s influence on the United Nations is obvious not only from the fealty paid to Beijing by the WHO Director General, but also from the silence of senior UN officials, starting with the Secretary General, on the Communist regime’s egregious human rights violations and its expansionism. Even if the UN feels strongly about these issues, it kept completely quiet ahead of the Olympics. There was also no condemnation of PRC’s politicisation of the Games, by using as torchbearer, a PLA commander who was involved in the battle in Galwan against Indian Army soldiers.
Thus, is it a surprise that Emperor Xi is so brazen? He knows he will get away, whatever be his misdeeds.
As for using the PLA commander as a torchbearer, and then highlighting it on social media in English so that it comes to the notice of Indians, prove that the move was not just meant for the consumption of the domestic audience, but was a deliberate ploy to send a message to India. This in-your-face arrogance showed once again that the PRC is not interested in maintaining cordial relations with India. It is only India which seems to believe that PRC will change its spots. If there is peace—if absence of war can be called peace—along the Line of Control, it’s because Beijing does not believe that this is the right time to start a conflict with India. But it is not averse to a kinetic conflict and will start one at a time and place of its choosing. That’s what even the build-up on the Chinese side of the LAC suggests. It’s a precarious situation and cannot be dismissed as posturing by the Chinese. PRC is anyway fighting a political war with India 24X7, and the PLA commander move was part of its psy-ops designed to intimidate us. Beijing’s intention is clear—it wants to control the whole Himalayan massif, and hence the sources of water that flows through India, and thus choke India into submission, apart from ensuring its own water demands are met.
At a time when the talks between the military commanders of the two countries have hit a dead end, when the Chinese population is facing economic distress, when there is rampant factionalism in the Communist Party of China and when Xi Jinping’s position in the party may not be as strong as he would like the world to believe, the question is, what will he do to consolidate his position by diverting the attention of his party and his people? Is India the obvious target for Xi’s misadventures, much more than Taiwan is, given the US is bound to come to Taiwan’s aid in case of trouble? Does the use of the Galwan soldier at the Winter Olympics point towards an escalation of tensions? In such a scenario, it was prudent on India’s part to boycott the Games at the diplomatic level. Only, the decision should have come much earlier. India should not have put its stamp on the RIC joint statement upholding a sovereign country’s right to hold the Games. Peace cannot be bought with an adversary like China. Let’s hope we don’t learn this lesson the hard way. Meanwhile, the Games continue, under the watchful eyes of Emperor Xi, even as the marionettes from around the world surrounding him dance at his command.