(TibetanReview.net, Mar06’22) – The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has on Feb 5 asked China’s state broadcaster to explain the apparent censorship of its president’s forceful anti-war speech at the opening of the Beijing Winter Paralympics, reported the AFP Mar 6.
The report said IPC president Andrew Parsons had used his Feb 4 night platform to strongly denounce war, saying the “Olympic truce for peace” must not be violated.
“The 21st Century is a time for dialogue and diplomacy, not war and hate,” he was reported to have told the audience at Beijing’s National Stadium.
Parsons has added that he was “horrified” by current world events but stopped short of specifically mentioning close Chinese partner Russia or its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
But it was all blacked out in translation and in other ways. The report said his condemnation of war was not translated into Chinese on air by state broadcaster CCTV.
And at one point, the broadcaster also appeared to lower the volume of his speech, the report said.
Having asked CCTV for an explanation, IPC spokesman Craig Spence has said, “We are still awaiting a response 24 hours on.”
Meanwhile China’s ruling Communist Party has been telling its people that they were fellow targets of US-led harassment, reported the AP Mar 5, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The stance of the Chinese government is the closest thing Putin has to a major ally: The war should stop but the United States is to blame, the report said.
China has offered to act as mediator and denounced the trade and financial sanctions the democratic West has imposed against Russia.
Media outlets in China were told last week to post only pro-Russian content and to censor anti-Russian or pro-Western views, the report noted, citing a copy of instructions posted on the social media account of the newspaper Beijing News. The post was later deleted.