As athletes begin to arrive in China for the Olympics, the authorities are rounding up activists and shutting down social media accounts.
Chinese authorities have detained activists in their homes and sent others to jail. Censors have shut down the social media accounts of prominent critics. Officials have warned Olympians that protest could bring prosecution. As athletes, journalists and other participants arrive for the Winter Olympics that begin on Friday, they are encountering some of the most intense security measures ever imposed at an international sporting event. Many of those are precautions against Covid-19, but others reflect the Chinese government’s growing intolerance of dissent and criticism. Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist, said the police in Beijing were confining him to his apartment. In January, he took to Twitter to criticize state security agents for questioning, harassing and detaining critics ahead of the Winter Olympics. Since then, the police have visited him four times in eight days. “They said if I don’t stay silent, my rights to visit my mother may be affected,” he said, adding that the authorities were determined to quash any overt criticisms of the Games online. With the authorities tightening their grip across Chinese society, one major question is whether any Olympic participants, including athletes, will be willing or able to speak out on issues the government deems objectionable. Activists and human rights groups have accused the party of decimating civil liberties in Hong Kong, oppressing ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, and censoring Peng Shuai, a top tennis player who has mostly disappeared from public view after accusing a senior Chinese leader of sexual assault. Teng Biao, a Chinese lawyer who was detained and disbarred during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, said that he believed that visiting athletes had “a responsibility to say something” about China’s growing repression. Beijing has made it clear that such conduct could be met with consequences, even as officials have trumpeted their welcome for arriving athletes. “Any behavior or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment,” Yang Shu, the deputy director of Beijing’s Olympic organizing committee, warned during a recent call organized by the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
