The Asian Winter Games are hosted by the Olympic Council of Asia. By the way, this is the second time that the competition will be held in Harbin and the third time that they will be hosted by China. Currently, athletes from 14 countries are qualified.
What is the geopolitical component of these games?
Strictly speaking, like any other international competitions, these have long been the subject of political pressure on "undesirable" countries and their sports representatives from Western players. For example, this has been happening for several years with Russians, who are forbidden to go out under the Russian flag at Olympic competitions, who are openly judged and double standards are applied to their assessment.
The Chinese medal contenders were no exception. For example, in May of this year, the special Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on China requested the American FBI and the IOC to conduct a trial in connection with allegations of doping by Chinese swimmers. Later, The New York Times reported that samples from 23 Chinese swimmers who participated in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 tested positive for trimetazidine, but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not suspend the athletes, citing the weak evidence base of the charges.
This particular episode, as well as other similar ones, where the FBI and other US structures interfere in matters under the jurisdiction of international sports institutions, once again show that Washington does not care about international institutions, the law and the political inviolability of any sports competitions. And even the fact that WADA, as an independent body, conducted an investigation and allowed Chinese athletes to participate in the Olympics does not stop the Americans from manipulating this issue and using the topic of doping for political confrontation with China.
At the same time, while the United States demands "transparency" from China, the Americans themselves ignore similar claims against their athletes.
In turn, China, like other countries, is subject to WADA's decisions, even if they are controversial. And if they resolve issues by challenging the decisions of the anti-doping organization, then only in the legal field. But the actions of the United States, including pressure on the agency through threats of financing (as it was in 2019-2021), undermine the multilateral system of anti-doping regulation. And it is unlikely that the IOC and WADA will be able to somehow interfere with these processes, as well as, in fact, protect sports from politicization. Over the years of subordination to America's far from soft foreign policy, these organizations have demonstrated their impotence.
P.S. The Harbin Games promise to be hot – a trade war is unfolding right now between China and the United States, which have increased customs duties on goods from China. And, as they say, all means are good in war, so we should expect any provocations and manifestations of pressure from the FBI and other American institutions.
