Visitors take pictures of the flame of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games displayed at the Olympic Tower near the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in Beijing on October 23, 2021. The public will be able to book tickets to visit the flame, which landed in Beijing on October 20 from Athens, Greece. Photo: VCG

Though more symbolic than practical in certain respects, Australia's recent attacks on China's forthcoming winter Olympics reveal its unrelenting hostile and destructive attitude towards China. Canberra has once again sided with the US to politicize and weaponize a global sports event, in disgraceful violation of sportsmanship and the spirit of competition.

Far from a winter Olympics powerhouse though, Australia has been strong in only a few items including snowboarding and freestyle skiing. Nevertheless, the Australian athletes in these sports have been looking forward to the Beijing Winter Olympics as a valuable opportunity to compete and exchange with athletes from the rest of the world. 

On the one hand, the recent rhetoric provocations of Australia toward China are an election strategy with the purpose of demonizing China, to demonstrate Canberra's political toughness so as to cater to domestic populists and far-right forces. 

On the other hand, even if Australia were not facing the pending federal parliament election by the end of May next year, it would still have sided with the US to threaten boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics, as part of the overall anti-China strategy of the West led by the US.

However, the strategy of playing the tough card against China is bound to fail. China is the largest trading partner of Australia and there has been a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. In terms of such an important partnership in economy and other aspects, it is ridiculous for Australia to adopt adversarial strategies toward China, particularly under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, with an illogical disregard of its own national interests. 

Besides, such measures are definitely disadvantageous to the Morrison government in the forthcoming election, as sabotaging the China-Australia relationship has wreaked havoc on the confidence of Chinese investors to choose Australia as an ideal business destination. 

 In the absence of independence and maturity in its diplomatic practices, Australia can hardly harvest respect from the international community with its categorical fawning on the US. 

Even the US shows no respect to Australia since it not only has been seizing the share of the Chinese market with Australia's imprudent withdrawal, but also left Australia to deal with the ire of Paris to the injudicious disavowal of the submarine deal, leaving the Morrison government to take all the blame. 

In 2008, then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd rejected boycotting the Beijing Olympics and attended the opening ceremony, saying it was "exciting and impressive." 

This year in November, President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee said that Beijing will make history as the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as all elements are in place to deliver a successful sporting festival.

 The world is quite aware of Australia's lack of political wisdom and its mindless support of what the US attempt to maintain regional and global hegemony. As a result, its boycott is no longer relevant to such a highly anticipated sporting event. 

China emphasizes inclusiveness and fair competition as the true spirit of Olympic Games. However, some politicians in Canberra are seeking to profiteer from the Olympic Games as a coercive bid against China with their ulterior political agenda. China won't deem such clownish attempts as pressure at all. 

Neither the Winter Olympics nor China's peaceful development will be disrupted or affected by the troubles stirred by a small number of Western political elements. 

The US and the West have launched assaults on countries with different political systems and social governance models, such as China and Russia. Such attempts are doomed to fail. The success of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics is a manifestation of the failure of boycotting conspiracies. The Beijing Winter Olympics is now witnessing enthusiastic participation of athletes from countries and regions across the world. 

We want to remind the Morrison government that reckless harassment and attack are bound to failure; in fact those that provoke such outrage will pay a heavy price. 

Such conspiratorial attacks cannot act unbridled against China without bearing any consequences. 

This article is compiled by Global Times reporter Yan Yuzhu based on the interview with Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn