How the West can avoid Beijing’s propaganda trap

This time next year the Winter Olympics will have drawn to a close. Beijing will have become the first city to have hosted both the summer and winter games. The Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) central propaganda department will have worked to ensure a gold medal performance in harnessing sport to bolster the party’s image (before we get too self-righteous about that, remember that all hosts use the games to boost soft power).

Or maybe not. A year out, global momentum is gathering for an Olympic boycott in reaction to the genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley has called on the Biden administration to pull the US out of the games to send a message to Beijing. Meanwhile a petition is circulating in Canada to pressure the International Olympic Committee into moving the games to Vancouver.

But last week the UK’s Prime Minister ruled out a boycott.