Medical personnel in protective suits watch as the China Ice Sports College hockey team practices on the ice during the Experience Beijing Ice Hockey Domestic Test Activity, a test event for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, Wednesday, November 10, 2021. Photo: VCG

The purpose of strict epidemic prevention and control measures is to ensure the safety of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and all involved personnel, which is the premise of normal reporting for journalists, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, stressing that China opposes distorting facts and smearing China and the Beijing Games in the name of "press freedom." 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at Thursday's media briefing in response to a question on whether press freedom will be affected by COVID-19 prevention and control measures during the Beijing Winter Olympics. 

Wang said that foreign media have an open reporting environment in China and are free to report on the Winter Olympics. 

China will, as always, protect the legitimate rights and interests of permanent offices of foreign media and foreign journalists in accordance with the law, and welcome media coverage and constructive comments on the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wang said. 

China has published two editions of the Beijing 2022 Playbooks, requesting a closed loop management for all people related to the Games and separate them from the society to ensure the health of all people involved and residents of the hosting city, Wang said. 

The current epidemic prevention and control situation is still grim and complex, which has resulted in some difficulties on media coverage. But the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee have been helping journalists overcome these difficulties, Wang said, noting that they will adopt technological means and online interviews to meet journalists' needs for necessary interviews outside the closed loop, Wang said.

Wang's remarks came after some NGOs including the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was concerned about the ability of the press to "work freely" during the Winter Olympics. 

However, during Wednesday's briefing, Pierre Ducrey, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Games Operations Director who arrived in Beijing a week ago, labelled China's pre-Games closed-loop "very safe" with "a good number of" COVID-19 countermeasures in the Playbooks already in place.

"I am very impressed by the establishment of the pre-Games loop, which really allows the stakeholders to fulfill their work plan," he commented.



Global Times