China supports participation of Russian athletes in sporting events
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The Chinese Olympic Committee says athletes from all over the world should have equal rights to participate in competitions.
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The flags of China and the IOC (Reuters)
The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) on Saturday expressed its agreement with the stance of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to allow, among others, Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international tournaments under the neutral status.
"The Chinese Olympic Committee assumes that athletes from all over the world should have equal rights to participate in competitions. Their participation should be determined by their athletic performance and should not depend on such factors as politics or war," the COC considered in a statement.
"China has always adhered to the principle of political neutrality in sports and opposed the politicization of sports," the statement read.
Elsewhere, the COC pointed out that it would "actively support the IOC and the OCA's initiatives and decisions" and was ready to establish a platform for the joint protection of all athletes, including professional Russian and Belarusian athletes, to protect Olympic values.
The IOC said on Wednesday that a pathway for the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics should be "further explored", ignoring calls from Ukraine to ban them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had stressed to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Russian athletes "should have no place" at the Paris Games.
At the Olympic Summit in December, the OCA announced its readiness to host Russian athletes at Asian sports competitions, including at the next Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, which would run from September 23 to October 8.
On Thursday, the UK's Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan described the IOC's plans as "a world away from the reality of war being felt by the Ukrainian people."
On February 28, the IOC urged sports federations and organizers to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international events over the war in Ukraine.
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