BEIJING, Dec 21: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will attend the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Siddharth Chatterjee, the UN Resident Coordinator in China said as he expressed UN support for China hosting the event.
The Beijing Winter Olympic will be held from February 4 to 20 next year followed by the Paralympics Winter Games from March 4-13, 2022.
Beijing which held the Summer Olympics in 2008 is the only city to have hosted both winter and summer Olympics.
“I am delighted that my boss, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has accepted an invitation from the International Olympic Committee to attend the Beijing Winter Games. I echo his wise words, when he said that the Olympic spirit brings out humanity’s best: Teamwork and solidarity. Talent. Tolerance,” Chatterjee told Chinese official media on Tuesday.
Guterres’ presence is regarded as significant as the US, the UK, Canada and Australia have said they will not send government representatives to the February games because of concerns over China’s human rights record.
The diplomatic boycott is over the allegations of abuse against Uyghur Muslims and other minorities.
China for its part has lodged a stern protest to the US over the “diplomatic boycott”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on December 7 that the US boycott move runs counter to the Olympic charter principle that sport should maintain political neutrality as well as the Olympic motto of standing together.
“China deplores and rejects this and lodged solemn representations and will take resolute countermeasures,” he said.
China has already announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping’s invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Chatterjee, who hails from India, has formally taken over as the United Nations Coordinator in China, a key posting of overseeing the work of 27 UN agencies, funds and programmes in the country in February this year.
Before coming to China, Chatterjee was the UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya.
“At a time when the world is battling against the COVID-19 pandemic, solidarity and friendship among nations have never been more important,” Chatterjee was quoted as saying by the state-run China Daily.
“It will also be critical for all (UN) member states to observe the Olympic Truce, and ensure the safe passage, access and participation of athletes, officials and all other personnel taking part in the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” he said.
On December 2, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal”.
It voiced the expectation that the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be “a meaningful opportunity to harness the power of sport to advance the world by fostering an atmosphere of peace, development, resilience, tolerance and understanding”, Chatterjee said. (PTI)
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