CNN published propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party-controlled media outlet Xinhua News Agency on a “sponsored content” section of CNN’s website this month.
The Xinhua News Agency article, entitled “A Winter Sporting Even like No Other,” presents the Winter Olympics in Beijing as a “safe” and “sustainable” event due to China’s so-called “efforts” to “become even greener.”
“The 2022 winter games in Beijing will provide a stage for the world’s top winter sports athletes and highlight China’s efforts to host a safe, sustainable global-scale event” the sub-headline states.
“And this time, the most anticipated winter sports event, has become even greener,” the article claims. “It’s a journey that encompasses a green construction and infrastructure drive, the implementation of extensive safety protocols, and massive investment to fuel domestic participation in winter sports. Several technologies are being applied for the first time to realize a carbon-neutral event.”
The article goes on to praise China’s plan to “fully power all 26 venues with renewables,” as well as “focus on climate-friendly refrigeration.”
“In the mountains of Zhangjiakou, where skiing and snowboarding events will take place, hundreds of snow cannons will lay artificial snow to ensure optimal conditions for competitors. The snowmaking systems utilize intelligent technology that helps conserve water and decide the timing for snowmaking based on weather conditions,” the article continues. “As a grand gesture of sustainable intent, the iconic Olympic torch will burn hydrogen for its flame.”
China is well-known as a world-leader in pollution. According to the independent research firm Numbeo.com, China is one of the top 15 most polluted countries in the world.
Weeks before the Games kicked off, Chinese authorities warned of the air pollution risks in Beijing, Reuters reported. Liu Youbin, spokesman for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said winter weather has a tendency to hinder efforts to keep air clean
“Beijing and Hebei … (can) take necessary administrative measures during the preparation and staging of the Winter Olympics to adopt control measures against enterprises and vehicles with high pollution levels,” Liu said.
The article also comes amid reports of abhorrent human rights violations being committed by the Chinese Communist Party, including genocide of the Uyghur minorities.
The Chinese Communist Party has, for years, been systematically suppressing minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and is known as one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Witnesses to the abuse have provided grim accounts of killings, torture, rape, enslavement, forced separation of children from their parents, forced sterilization and abortion, enforced disappearances, and destruction of cultural and religious heritage.
China expert Adrian Zenz characterized China’s suppression of Muslim Uyghurs – which has reportedly impacted over 1.5 million people – as “probably the largest incarceration of an ethnoreligious minority since the Holocaust.”
