US ambassador to UN calls Uyghur Olympic torchbearer Dinigeer Yilamujiang a ‘distraction’
‘We know it’s happening’: US ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield calls Uyghur Olympic torchbearer Dinigeer Yilamujiang a ‘distraction’ from ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang
Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old cross-country skier, was the final torch bearer which thrust her – and the Uyghurs – squarely onto the world stage ‘This is an effort by the Chinese to distract us from the real issue here at hand,’ US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday ‘Uyghurs are being tortured, and Uyghurs are the victims of human rights violations by the Chinese.’ She added: ‘We know that a genocide has been committed there. We’ve called them out on it. The president has called them out on it’
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US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield
The United States on Sunday criticized China’s choice of an ethnic Uyghur to carry the Olympic torch, calling it an effort by Beijing to ‘distract us’ from the mistreatment of the minority group.
The appearance Friday of Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a 20-year-old cross-country skier, as the final torch bearer thrust her – and the Uyghur question – squarely onto the world stage.
‘This is an effort by the Chinese to distract us from the real issue here at hand,’ US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday on CNN: ‘that Uyghurs are being tortured, and Uyghurs are the victims of human rights violations by the Chinese.’
She added: ‘We know that a genocide has been committed there. We’ve called them out on it. The president has called them out on it.’
China’s ruling Communist Party has been accused of widespread human rights abuses against the mostly Muslim minority from the far-northwestern region of Xinjiang.
At least one million Uyghurs have been incarcerated in ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang, rights campaigners say, and Chinese authorities have been accused of forcibly sterilizing women and imposing forced labor in the area.
Beijing, which hopes to use the Winter Olympics to draw attention to China’s dynamic growth and increasingly prominent global role, has denied all allegations of abuse or genocide, and exhorted its critics to stop ‘politicizing’ the Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has played down the controversial pick of torch-bearer.
Yilamujiang had ‘every right’ to participate, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. ‘We don’t discriminate against people on where they’re from, what their background is.’
Olympic torch bearers Dinigeer Yilamujiang (L) and Zhao Jiawen (R) hold the torch in the middle of a giant snowflake during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing on February 4, 2022
Yilamujiang of Team China competes during the Women’s Cross Country 7.5km + 7.5km Skiathlon on Day 1 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony
President Joe Biden announced a diplomatic boycott of the games
The United States, Australia, Britain and Canada were among countries that did not send diplomatic representatives to the Winter Games because of rights concerns, especially over the Uyghurs.
Yilamujiang, whose smiling face was seen by millions around the world, was not considered one of China’s most accomplished athletes.
At the Games on Saturday, she finished 43rd in the skiathlon race.
She quietly slipped away after the event alongside three other Chinese athletes through a ‘mixed zone’, which allows athletes to pass through without having to answer questions from the media.
Yilamujiang, who is the only athlete of Uyghur heritage, became the main focus of the Olympics following her controversial appearance at the Opening Ceremony – which rights groups have since criticised for ‘giving a political message’.
Following her prominent appearance on television, state media ran videos of Yilamujiang’s family cheering and clapping as they watched the ceremony onscreen – which many claimed was staged.
Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, the man behind the mind-blowing Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, which also took place in the Birds Nest stadium, masterminded the event – promising it would be ‘a bold and unprecedented way to light the Olympic flame.’
Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, the man behind the mind-blowing Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, which also took place in the Birds Nest stadium, masterminded the event – promising it would be ‘a bold and unprecedented way to light the Olympic flame.’
Beijing Olympics organizers declined to comment on Ms Yilamujiang’s disappearance at a press conference on Saturday – but the IOC confirmed mixed-zone rules remain in place despite the pandemic, according to the WSJ.
In an article published by the Communist Party-run Xinjiang Daily, Yilamujiang said: ‘China has done everything possible for me, and what is left for me to do now is to train hard and bring glory to the country.’
During another video posted by the newspaper, Yilamujiang’s mother added: ‘Thanks to the country for giving my daughter such an important mission.’
In response to claims that Yilamujiang’s inclusion was a political stance, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said she had ‘every right’ to participate.
