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Jessie Yeung

 

1 million people apply to enter Beijing's Covid-free bubble as Olympic hype grows

 

Enthusiasm for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is building in China, with people clamoring for spots as volunteer workers — even as restrictions tighten amid an ongoing Covid-19 outbreak.

Since applications opened nearly two years ago, more than 1 million people have applied to work unpaid at the Beijing Games, which will be held in February, state-run tabloid Global Times reported on Monday. Of that massive pool, nearly 20,000 volunteers were selected — mostly college students from Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province.

The flood of applicants reflects the excitement sweeping China, as Beijing prepares to become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. It's a major point of national pride, evident in grandiose official rhetoric and frequent state media coverage in the lead-up to the Games.

Ahead of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, similar hordes of eager citizens signed up to volunteer — with state media reporting more than 1.2 million applications.

But the upcoming Winter Games are taking place in a drastically different environment, with China one of the world's few remaining "zero-Covid" holdouts. 

Even as other countries in the region and around the world begin to open up and "live with Covid," Chinese officials show no signs of backing down from stringent measures and border closures in the pursuit of a virus-free country.

 

In recent weeks, a resurgence of the virus has seen cases reported in more than a third of China's provinces and regions, prompting local governments to introduce punishing travel restrictions and place millions of people under snap lockdowns.

In some ways, the situation echoes the pandemic-delayed Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, which were held earlier this year against the backdrop of a Covid crisis in the host country. As athletes gathered in the Japanese capital from July to August, daily new cases spiked and Tokyo was placed under a state of emergency.

The Japanese government's determination to hold the Games despite the Covid risk was controversial, and public support plummeted. Though 80,000 people initially signed up to volunteer at the Games, at least 10,000 had quit by mid-June, mostly over Covid concerns. Many were still waiting to get vaccinated, and said they received little protection against Covid beyond cloth masks and hand sanitizer.

There appears to be none of that reluctance in China — reflecting a confidence in the country's Covid prevention measures, which are broadly popular among the public. 

Unlike the vaccination delay before the Tokyo Olympics, China rolled out its inoculation program with remarkable speed and efficiency. So far more than 2.2 billion doses have been administered in mainland China, according to the country's National Health Commission on Tuesday.

To ensure the Olympics don't cause an outbreak among the population, Chinese organizers will hold the Games in a what they've billed as a "Covid-safe bubble" around Beijing, to separate athletes and participants from local residents. Only people who live in mainland China will be allowed to attend the Games as spectators.

But the Beijing Games haven't avoided controversy. Human rights activists have called for the United States and other democracies to boycott the event, citing Beijing's alleged human rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied these claims.

International journalists have also criticized organizers for lack of transparency and access. On Tuesday, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said on Twitter that foreign journalists had been excluded from events, blocked from news conferences and prevented from reporting on the preparations.

But the controversy abroad has not dampened enthusiasm at home. Even a grueling selection and training process hasn't deterred the army of young volunteers. 

One selected volunteer, student Li Wanghua, told state-run China Daily she had to complete more than 20 training sessions online before taking a series of exams. The applicants were tested on their knowledge of winter sports and the Games, as well as their English skills, before undergoing interviews.

Then came the workout. Since many of the competitions will be held outdoors in the snow, volunteers must complete physical assessments such as cross-country walking 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) to train their stamina and resistance to cold, Li said.

That's just the beginning of their training, which will last through the end of the year for the 20,000 selected volunteers, according to Global Times. The training program includes learning service etiquette, emergency care, Covid prevention strategies, and basic psychological and physical health care.

The job may also come at a personal cost. One volunteer who was selected to work at the Beijing airport said she has to clock-in two weeks before the Games begin, meaning she will miss Lunar New Year celebrations. It's one of China's biggest annual holidays when families typically gather — akin to Thanksgiving or Christmas in the US.

But for the volunteers, little of that matters: the Olympics provide them — and China — a triumphant moment in the global spotlight.

"The professionalism and passion of the volunteers of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 are deeply imbedded in my memory, although I was only a primary school student back then," Li told China Daily. "It's an honor to have the opportunity to emulate them."

 

Biden criticizes Xi for COP26 no-show

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a "big mistake" by not showing up at the landmark COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, this week, his American counterpart Joe Biden said on Tuesday.

 

Xi did not attend the climate summit in person or appear via video link — only sending a written statement urging developed countries to do more to improve their climate commitments, and to provide support to poorer nations to help improve theirs. 

China is a key player in the world's fight against the climate crisis. It's the world's biggest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases — with annual emissions more than double the United States. 

So when Xi skipped what's considered the most important conference to limit global heating and stave off catastrophic climate change, President Biden took it as a sign China was losing its standing as a global leader and influencer on climate action. 

"I think it's been a big mistake, quite frankly, for China — with respect to China not showing up," Biden said from the Glasgow summit.

 

"The rest of the world is going to look to China and say, 'What value added are they providing?' And they've lost an ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at COP."

Xi hasn't left China in 21 months, ostensibly because of the coronavirus pandemic. He also missed the G20 summit in Rome last week. China is one of the only countries still following a "zero-Covid" model that includes closed borders and lengthy quarantine measures for all international arrivals.

But Xi's absence on the global stage has been noted among world leaders and, aside from wanting to focus on internal problems such as eliminating Covid-19, signals a possible retreat from global cooperation. China's relations with the US and other Western nations are at their lowest in decades — a point not lost on Biden.

"The fact that China, trying to assert, understandably, a new role in the world as a world leader — not showing up? Come on," the US President added. 

"The single-most important thing that's gotten the attention of the world is climate. Everywhere from Iceland to Australia — it just is a gigantic issue. And they've walked away. How do you do that and then claim to be able to have any leadership now?"

Biden also criticized Russia and Saudi Arabia — two other big polluters — for missing the summit. 

His comments came after special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua told reporters in Glasgow that China does "not resist" the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but focusing only on this temperature would mean "destroying this consensus among all parties, and many countries are demanding reopening of negotiations."

"We need to be realistic, to be pragmatic and to correctly interpret the Paris Agreement goals and focus on taking concrete and real actions," he said.

China's commitment and ability to cut its carbon emissions is considered vital in limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius — that's the target scientists say is necessary to hold off the very worst impacts of climate change. 

World leaders like Biden have been pressuring China to make a significant jump in its pledges and to speed up it plans to decarbonize its economy.

But ahead of COP26, China made only a small improvement in its emission-cutting plan to the United Nations. It reiterated previous pledges to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, and said it would lower its CO2 emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by over 65% from the 2005 level by 2030.

In recent years, Xi has been seen as a global leader on climate. China's 14th Five-Year Plan put energy, climate targets and a green transition front and center, and the country is already the world's biggest producer of renewable energy. Decarbonizing would also require a huge structural overhaul to China's coal-powered economy.

But there are mounting questions as to whether China can achieve its climate targets — which are considered inadequate to limit the required global heating. China has been powering its coronavirus economic recovery by accelerating construction projects reliant on fossil fuels, and it recently ramped up coal production to ease an ongoing energy crisis.

 

— By Helen Regan

A dangerous meme

A man was reportedly detained for nine days after sending the above meme, of a dog in a police hat, to a group chat while complaining about local Covid-19 prevention and control measures. The message was reported to police in Qingtongxia city, in Ningxia region, who said the meme had insulted the police. This constituted the offense of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," police said.

A year ago today, Beijing yanked Ant Group's $37 billion IPO — a stunning move that turned out to be the start of a sweeping crackdown. The flurry of regulatory actions that followed have marked one of the most consequential realignments of private enterprise in China's history.

 

In the year that followed that announcement, the Chinese government's regulatory might has changed industries ranging from tech and finance to gaming, entertainment and private education.

 

The speed and ferocity with which Chinese authorities have acted against the country's corporate titans have startled even the closest China watchers.

 

"The latest regulatory tightening cycle is unprecedented in terms of duration, intensity, scope, and velocity," analysts from Goldman Sachs wrote in a recent research report.

 

The campaign has wiped out more than $1 trillion worldwide from the market value of Chinese companies. It has sent chills through the wider economy and stoked fears about the prospects of future innovation and growth in China.

 

While China's decisions have rocked the corporate world and rattled foreign investors, President Xi Jinping appears undeterred. To him, reining in private enterprise is the solution to fixing longstanding concerns about consumer rights, data privacy, excess debt and economic inequality.

 

But other factors might force the government to slow the pace and scale at which it is trying to transform private enterprise, as the world's second largest economy has encountered a slew of challenges that are weighing heavily on growth.

 

Read more on CNN Business.

Around Asia

• At least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in blasts at Afghanistan's biggest military hospital on Tuesday.

• The South Pacific island nation of Tonga went into lockdown on Tuesday after discovering its first-ever Covid case.

• Cleo Smith, the 4-year-old girl allegedly abducted from her family's tent at a campsite in Australia more than two weeks ago, has been found alive.

• Desperate Afghan families with no food are being forced to sell their daughters as child brides, as the country's humanitarian crisis deepens.