Trudeau's futile attempt to distort Beijing Winter Games

While cheering for Canadian athletes on the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed his "grave concerns" over reported "human rights violations" in China.

This is Trudeau's latest brazen attempt to bring shame on China.

There is no denying that the smooth holding of the Beijing Winter Olympics at a time when the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is still raging around the world can be attributed to the arduous efforts that China has made to put in place a closed-loop system. So, although some Western countries led by the United States have made every attempt to trigger a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Games, the heads of many countries or their diplomatic representations still attended the opening ceremony of the Olympics in a show of support for China and the Games. The world does need such a sports event to rally people's hearts at such a difficult time.

Due to reasons that are known to all, some Western countries, including Canada, have adopted a confrontational stance toward China in recent years, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, all people should know that sports are sports and politics are politics. The Beijing Games are a sports event that offers a showcase for athletes to demonstrate their skill and fans of ice and snow sports around the world to appreciate their performances, not a stage for politicians to make political shows. The "grave concerns" expressed by Trudeau on China's human rights issue are not only unfounded, they also exposed his disregard of the Olympic Charter which honors the principle of political neutrality in sports.

Chinese people are in the best position to say how China's human rights situation is. China has blazed a path of human rights development with Chinese characteristics, bringing tangible benefits to the Chinese people. As far as the human rights in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region are concerned, the ones which Western countries keep pointing their accusing fingers at, the rights of people of all ethnicities in the region are well protected and as a result the region enjoys sustained social stability, high-quality economic development, marked improvement in people's living standards, and ethnic unity and harmony.

Hypocritically, in making his groundless accusations against China, Trudeau turns a blind eye to Canada's own dismal human rights record. The genocidal policy Canada imposed on Indigenous peoples and their poor living conditions even today are both a reflection of the appalling severity of systematic racial discrimination in Canada.

Trudeau should have the courtesy not to point an accusing finger at others until he cleans up his own house.