Chinese athlete Dinigeer Yilamujiang (left) and Zhao Jiawen put the torch in the center of a giant snowflake during the grand opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 4, 2022, making it an innovative and low-carbon Olympic cauldron. Photo: VCG

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that choosing a Uygur athlete to be a torchbearer at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony reflects that China's policy of promoting winter sports and improving people's health is benefiting people of all ethnic groups, and that China is a big family of ethnic groups.

Zhao made the comment when asked what China's motive is in choosing an ethnic-Uygur torchbearer. 

Zhao said the genocide rumor is the biggest lie of the century, and the remarks made by some US politicians are nothing less than lying through their teeth. 

According to the Olympic Charter, Dinigeer Yilamujiang, the Uygur athlete, has the right to participate in the games and ceremonies as a member of Team China, Zhao stressed. Second, there are clear criteria for selecting torchbearers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which require comprehensive consideration of personal will, competition results, age, popularity, ethnic composition and other factors, so as to fully reflect broad representation. 

The torch of the Beijing 2020 Winter Olympic Games passed through three generations of Chinese athletes at the opening ceremony, representing the continuation and inheritance of the Olympic spirit. We are glad to see that athletes from all ethnic groups, including Yilamujiang, have joined the Chinese sports team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Zhao said.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield had an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" on Saturday where she made irresponsible and wrong remarks about the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Xinjiang-related issues. When asked how she interpreted the fact that one of the two athletes that lit the torch was from China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Greenfield said "it is an effort by the Chinese to distract us from the real issue here at hand, that Uygurs are being tortured."

China's Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun said on Saturday that Greenfield's groundless and politically-biased words have seriously poisoned China-US relations. Facing such a smear campaign, China has no choice but to push back and clarify its position and reject the unfounded accusations by the US.


Global Times