With each passing day, as the economic and military power of China grows, its arrogance and bullish conduct too are taking annoying dimensions. The worst part of this phenomena is that world governments and international institutions too have started showing signs of surrender to Beijing leaders’ ever increasing demands. The events accompanying the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece in mid-October and later the attempts of Thomas Bach, the President of International Olympics Committee (IOC) at misusing his official position to issue a spotless character certificate to a rape tainted senior Communist leader of China are the latest examples. 

Muscle Flexing Tactics 

This latest chapter of China brandishing its brute economic and diplomatic power started on October 18th at the Acropolis in Greece when the Olympic torch was being lit from the sacred Olympic flame and also the next day when the torch was handed over to China. Keeping in mind China’s disappointing record on human rights and colonial suppression in its colonies like Tibet, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), South Mongolia and dismissal of democracy in Hong Kong, representatives of human rights organisations from across the world had gathered in Athens to express their disapproval of organising Winter-Olympics-2022 in China. Right from the day when the IOC assigned the Winter-Olympic games to China, these groups have been appealing for an international boycott of the event.   

Intolerance Against Demonstration  

On both days of the torch ceremony, what dominated the events was the brazen display of diplomatic power by the local Chinese Embassy officials and Chinese Communist Party functionaries in Athens. In Greece, respected internationally as the original home of Olympics and also as the ‘Mother of Democracy,’ it was not the first time that a differing opinion was going to be expressed in a democratic manner by human rights groups. But the spectators and the international media were shocked to witness how sheepishly the Greek Police and Greek security agents were following instructions of the Chinese agents to push out and detain each person marked by the Chinese officials at both ceremony venues. A day before these ceremonies, the Greek Police had gone out of its way to arrest two young demonstrators in the Acropolis. Both of them were young girls from America who had unfurled a Tibetan flag and a banner which supported democratic movement of Hong Kong in the Acropolis.

A few days after the Olympic ceremonies, I had a chance to meet two young Swiss nationals of Tibetan origin at Zurich who had participated in these public protests at the Acropolis and the Olympia and were detained by the Greek Police. (Ms.) Tsering Kelsang and (Mr.) Tenzin Netsang, both members of Tibetan Youth Association of Europe (TYAE), were among those who were forcibly removed from the venue and were detained at a Greek police station.  Tsering was forcibly pushed out of the venue and was detained twice by the Greek Police when she was trying to brief the media about her detention. She was surprised to see that the Greek Police removed each such person from the venue who was pointed out by the Chinese officials. They openly announced their links with the Chinese Embassy in Athens. “In their enthusiasm to please the Chinese, the police detained everyone who looked different from the Europeans. It was a hilarious scene at the police station where we found that they had detained some of those Chinese agents too who were assigned by the Chinese Embassy to photograph Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongols and Honk Kong activists,” she said. 

Tsering further said, “The rule of law was completely shattered in Greece. When one of my colleagues asked a police officer in the police station, for what reason were we being detained? His answer was – “We don’t need any reason. We are the Greek Police”. This was completely arbitrary and had nothing to do with justice,” she added.

Tenzin Netsang, a student of law in Zurich, too was detained by the Greek Police in Athens. “The whole scenario looked very surreal to me. I hold a Swiss passport. I knew I was in Europe. But I was stunned to see the power of the Chinese even when they were in a democratic country like Greece where we have basic rights like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and there is rule of law. It was shocking for me to see that the Greek Police and security agents were taking direct orders from the Chinese officials in their own country. It was like seeing the Chinese communist system brought into Europe”, he said.

Targeting Tennis Player For Making Rape Charges 

The second demonstration of Chinese economic and political power which looked far more objectionable and incriminating was on November 22 when none other than Thomas Bach, the President of IOC, took on himself the responsibility of white washing Beijing’s suppression of famous Chinese woman tennis champion Peng Shuai. The former French Open and Wimbledon doubles champion Peng Shuai had become an international sensation on November 2 after she made public allegations on the Chinese social media that she was repeatedly raped by the former Chinese Vice Premier and a senior communist leader Zhang Gaoli. Soon after the allegations became viral on the Chinese social media and Chinese netizens started posting their comments, she and her social media account suddenly disappeared from the public view.

The Chinese Government and its propaganda machine tried to ward off the ever growing international outcry over this latest Chinese episode of ‘Me Too’. First it took the services of the editorial head of CGTN, the international TV mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  He forwarded a supposed email from Peng Shuai to Steve Simon, the President of World Tennis Association in which she was said to be telling him that he and WTA were wrongly informed about her allegations and subsequent disappearance. Then the Chief Editor of CCP mouthpiece and Chinese Government’s international newspaper Global Times released images and videos of the tennis star to assert before the international audience that she was fine, happy, smiling and a free citizen.

But when the controversy kept on raging for over 18 days, then Thomas Bach suddenly came out with a stage managed video from his IOC headquarters chat with Peng Shuai from inside China. 

Referring to his video chat, he claimed before the world audience that the Chinese tennis star was safe and happy in China and that all talks of her rape and disappearance were humbug. Interestingly, in her video chat from China, Ms. Peng was accompanied by a senior communist leader Li Lingwei who is a former director and Communist Party secretary of Tennis Administration Centre and General Administration of Sports in China. While Bach released the details of his talk with Peng to the international media, he refused to share access to this video recording with CNN. Even before this episode, Bach and the IOC had already drawn ridicule from human rights activists from across the world when he tried to run down the calls of “Boycott Beijing Winter-Olympics-2022” by announcing that “the modern Games must be respected as politically neutral ground.” Later, Bach, overwhelmed by his own ‘scoop’ of organising this video talk with the Chinese tennis star from inside China, boasted before the international media that Ms. Peng has accepted his invitation to have dinner with him in January, ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics along with Li.

But as opposed to what the Chinese authorities and Bach tried to assert, first at Athens and then at IOC headquarters, both of these events have only further fortified international concerns at the ever increasing Chinese bullying the governments and international institutions like IOC and various organs of the United Nations through its financial and political muscle power. nith each passing day, as the economic and military power of China grows, its arrogance and bullish conduct too are taking annoying dimensions. The worst part of this phenomena is that world governments and international institutions too have started showing signs of surrender to Beijing leaders’ ever increasing demands. The events accompanying the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece in mid-October and later the attempts of Thomas Bach, the President of International Olympics Committee (IOC) at misusing his official position to issue a spotless character certificate to a rape tainted senior Communist leader of China are the latest examples. 

Muscle Flexing Tactics 

This latest chapter of China brandishing its brute economic and diplomatic power started on October 18th at the Acropolis in Greece when the Olympic torch was being lit from the sacred Olympic flame and also the next day when the torch was handed over to China. Keeping in mind China’s disappointing record on human rights and colonial suppression in its colonies like Tibet, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), South Mongolia and dismissal of democracy in Hong Kong, representatives of human rights organisations from across the world had gathered in Athens to express their disapproval of organising Winter-Olympics-2022 in China. Right from the day when the IOC assigned the Winter-Olympic games to China, these groups have been appealing for an international boycott of the event.   

Intolerance Against Demonstration  

On both days of the torch ceremony, what dominated the events was the brazen display of diplomatic power by the local Chinese Embassy officials and Chinese Communist Party functionaries in Athens. In Greece, respected internationally as the original home of Olympics and also as the ‘Mother of Democracy,’ it was not the first time that a differing opinion was going to be expressed in a democratic manner by human rights groups. But the spectators and the international media were shocked to witness how sheepishly the Greek Police and Greek security agents were following instructions of the Chinese agents to push out and detain each person marked by the Chinese officials at both ceremony venues. A day before these ceremonies, the Greek Police had gone out of its way to arrest two young demonstrators in the Acropolis. Both of them were young girls from America who had unfurled a Tibetan flag and a banner which supported democratic movement of Hong Kong in the Acropolis.

A few days after the Olympic ceremonies, I had a chance to meet two young Swiss nationals of Tibetan origin at Zurich who had participated in these public protests at the Acropolis and the Olympia and were detained by the Greek Police. (Ms.) Tsering Kelsang and (Mr.) Tenzin Netsang, both members of Tibetan Youth Association of Europe (TYAE), were among those who were forcibly removed from the venue and were detained at a Greek police station.  Tsering was forcibly pushed out of the venue and was detained twice by the Greek Police when she was trying to brief the media about her detention. She was surprised to see that the Greek Police removed each such person from the venue who was pointed out by the Chinese officials. They openly announced their links with the Chinese Embassy in Athens. “In their enthusiasm to please the Chinese, the police detained everyone who looked different from the Europeans. It was a hilarious scene at the police station where we found that they had detained some of those Chinese agents too who were assigned by the Chinese Embassy to photograph Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongols and Honk Kong activists,” she said. 

Tsering further said, “The rule of law was completely shattered in Greece. When one of my colleagues asked a police officer in the police station, for what reason were we being detained? His answer was – “We don’t need any reason. We are the Greek Police”. This was completely arbitrary and had nothing to do with justice,”  she added.

Harvard professor found guilty of hiding affiliation with China A Harvard professor Charles Lieber  was convicted by a US federal jury on December 22 in connection with lying to federal authorities about his affiliation with a Chinese-run recruitment program. He was convicted following a six-day jury trial of two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, two counts of making and subscribing a false Income Tax return and two counts of failing to file reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Lieber was indicted in June 2020 and was subsequently charged in a superseding indictment in July 2020. He served as the Principal Investigator of the Lieber Research Group at Harvard University, which received more than $15 million in federal research grants between 2008 and 2019. Unknown to his employer-Harvard University, Lieber became a "Strategic Scientist" at the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) and, later, a contractual participant in China's Thousand Talents Plan from at least 2012 through 2015 In 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with WUT, the justice department said. In tax years 2013 and 2014, Lieber earned income from WUT in the form of salary and other payments made to him under the Strategic Scientist and Thousand Talents Contracts, which he did not disclose to the IRS on his federal income tax returns. "Lieber, together with WUT officials, opened a bank account at a Chinese bank during a trip to Wuhan in 2012. Thereafter, between at least 2013 and 2015, WUT periodically deposited portions of Lieber's salary into that account. U.S. taxpayers are required to report the existence of any foreign bank account that holds more than $10,000 at any time during a given year by the filing an FBAR with the IRS. Lieber failed to file FBARs for the years 2014 and 2015," the statement read.

 

Tenzin Netsang, a student of law in Zurich, too was detained by the Greek Police in Athens. “The whole scenario looked very surreal to me. I hold a Swiss passport. I knew I was in Europe. But I was stunned to see the power of the Chinese even when they were in a democratic country like Greece where we have basic rights like freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and there is rule of law. It was shocking for me to see that the Greek Police and security agents were taking direct orders from the Chinese officials in their own country. It was like seeing the Chinese communist system brought into Europe”, he said.

The spectators and the international media were shocked to witness how sheepishly the Greek Police and Greek security agents were following instructions of the Chinese agents to push out and detain each person marked by the Chinese officials at both ceremony venues for the Olympics 

Targeting Tennis Player For Making Rape Charges 

The second demonstration of Chinese economic and political power which looked far more objectionable and incriminating was on November 22 when none other than Thomas Bach, the President of IOC, took on himself the responsibility of white washing Beijing’s suppression of famous Chinese woman tennis champion Peng Shuai. The former French Open and Wimbledon doubles champion Peng Shuai had become an international sensation on November 2 after she made public allegations on the Chinese social media that she was repeatedly raped by the former Chinese Vice Premier and a senior communist leader Zhang Gaoli. Soon after the allegations became viral on the Chinese social media and Chinese netizens started posting their comments, she and her social media account suddenly disappeared from the public view.

The Chinese Government and its propaganda machine tried to ward off the ever growing international outcry over this latest Chinese episode of ‘Me Too’. First it took the services of the editorial head of CGTN, the international TV mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  He forwarded a supposed email from Peng Shuai to Steve Simon, the President of World Tennis Association in which she was said to be telling him that he and WTA were wrongly informed about her allegations and subsequent disappearance. Then the Chief Editor of CCP mouthpiece and Chinese Government’s international newspaper Global Times released images and videos of the tennis star to assert before the international audience that she was fine, happy, smiling and a free citizen.

How China is Becoming Threat to World Media Freedom: Hu Xijin, the editor of head of Global Times, was allegedly sacked after he had fallen out of favour of the Chinese Government. He had served the newspaper for three decades. In an uncharacteristically brief social media post just after midnight on December 16, Hu, 61, said it was "time to retire." He had handed over his paperwork and henceforth would contribute as a "special commentator," he wrote on Weibo, leaving his influential role as editor-in-chief after 16 years.   Hong Kong Journalist Held: On June 16, 2021, China took another step toward extinguishing any form of dissent in Hong Kong, hailing police in the city for arresting top Editors of a pro-democracy newspaper and warning journalists not to write articles that challenge Beijing. The Chinese Government arrested three top Editors and two senior executives of the tabloid owned by Next Digital Ltd founder and democracy activist Jimmy Lai, a fierce critic of Beijing who is currently serving more than a year in prison for attending unauthorised protests.   Bio, nuke, chemical, war drills: In the Tibet Military Region, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted an “actual battle drill” comprising anti-nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare. The drill was carried out in late November by a joint military brigade of the PLA, which included commandos, armoured assault groups, and soldiers trained in chemical warfare, according to a story published on the Chinese version of an official PLA news portal recently.   CREDIT FOR WEAPONISATION:  Xi Jinping has provided enormous development loans to South Asian and European nations with incompetent or corrupt regimes. When borrowers fail to repay their loans, China seizes strategic assets. In Africa, where China now has no geopolitical interests, Xi does not demand on payback as he accumulates future goodwill as a long-term investment. Disappearing Billionaires: Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma mysteriously disappeared from public view in January 2021. Formerly China’s richest person, Ma’s last public sighting was at Shanghai’s Bund Summit in late October, where he criticised Chinese regulators for stifling innovation. By early November, he was reportedly summoned to a meeting with Chinese authorities, who then pulled the plug on the planned IPO of his fintech giant, Ant Group, on November 3, just two days before it was slated to begin trading.  Another Chinese billionaire Guo has also gone missing. Guo’s disappearance came amid a corruption crackdown campaign that President Xi Jinping initiated after he rose to power in 2012. Guo, who has a current net worth of $7.5 billion, still chairs Fosun today.

 

But when the controversy kept on raging for over 18 days, then Thomas Bach suddenly came out with a stage managed video from his IOC headquarters chat with Peng Shuai from inside China. 

Referring to his video chat, he claimed before the world audience that the Chinese tennis star was safe and happy in China and that all talks of her rape and disappearance were humbug. Interestingly, in her video chat from China, Ms. Peng was accompanied by a senior communist leader Li Lingwei who is a former director and Communist Party secretary of Tennis Administration Centre and General Administration of Sports in China. While Bach released the details of his talk with Peng to the international media, he refused to share access to this video recording with CNN. Even before this episode, Bach and the IOC had already drawn ridicule from human rights activists from across the world when he tried to run down the calls of “Boycott Beijing Winter-Olympics-2022” by announcing that “the modern Games must be respected as politically neutral ground.” Later, Bach, overwhelmed by his own ‘scoop’ of organising this video talk with the Chinese tennis star from inside China, boasted before the international media that Ms. Peng has accepted his invitation to have dinner with him in January, ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics along with Li.

But as opposed to what the Chinese authorities and Bach tried to assert, first at Athens and then at IOC headquarters, both of these events have only further fortified international concerns at the ever increasing Chinese bullying the governments and international institutions like IOC and various organs of the United Nations through its financial and political muscle power.