Beijing has invited Russian athletes to participate in the Youth Games to be held in Chongqing in August. And it goes further. A Russian delegation traveled to China to sign a sports cooperation agreement between the two countries.
The agreement provides for the organization of about 100 sporting events in the two countries. Russia’s Sports Minister Oleg Matitsyn was even more solid when he spoke of more than 600 sporting events in 2023.
China does not seem afraid of the idea of being immersed in global sports conflict. There is no longer any concern about the rebellion of European countries, Canada and the United States, which signed a joint press release demanding that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not accept in any way the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes the next day. 2024 Olympics.
For many years, China has occupied a prominent position in international sports institutions. She quickly realized the power of persuasion (soft power) in using sports platforms to give herself political legitimacy in the world.
In recent years, China has hosted the Olympic Games twice and now we can see the presence of many Chinese sponsors in major international sports competitions.
Like the premiere e-commerce company Alibaba, which entered into a historic partnership with the CIO. Some sources speak of an amount of $800 million.
This partnership follows contracts signed between Chinese groups Wanda, VIVO and FIFA. Again, we’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars.
As for the friendship between China and Russia, it no longer needs to be proven. China is one of the few countries that has demanded that the IOC return Russian athletes to the next Games in Paris.
It should be remembered that after invading Ukraine, President Putin was the guest of Xi Jinping during the recent Olympic Games in Beijing, despite the International Olympic Committee’s ban on hosting Russian sports or political leaders during all sports competitions.
IOC President Thomas Bach accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Photo: Getty Images/Pool
This arm wrestling game has just begun. As Jean Levesque, a history professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, points out, Russia is preparing its response with its allies.
I get the impression that perhaps the Russians are preparing to create an alliance with the BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, to expel the CIO from his Western monopoly on decisions.
The professor told Radio Canada Sports.
Carol Gomez, a former researcher at the Institute for International Research and Strategy (IRIS), who is now at the Institute of Sports Sciences at the University of Lausanne, goes even further.
The major sports institutions, and the International Olympic Committee that leads them, will not be able to look at the world and its struggles by resorting to a certain impartiality.
says Mrs. Gomez.
” Today, the International Olympic Committee is no longer the only one dictating the course of the world of sports »
Should we see China’s defiance as another message that Sino-Russian relations are in good shape? Nothing is very encouraging about the return of peace in Ukraine.
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