Why the Chinese Communist Party Will Fail Even if the Winter Olympics Succeeds

An initially skeptical global audience celebrated when the rescheduled Tokyo Summer Olympics was conducted successfully in July and August last year. Those Games were a brave testament to the possibility of living with Covid-19 at a time when much of the world was suffering from cabin fever in trying to keep the spread of the virus at bay.

More than the feats of athleticism on display, the Tokyo Games were one of the first opportunities for the world to reconnect in a manner taken for granted before the pandemic. This was possible because the Summer Games were held in Japan, a country that has emerged as the champion of a free society and liberal democracy in a region with many pretend democracies and autocratic states. The Tokyo Olympics was a triumph for openness and fraternity, and in the process, a tribute to the host country.

For democracies, the Olympics gives the world a greater and more accurate insight and exposure to that country and its people — and to each other. Beijing is only about 1,300 miles away from Tokyo. But it is political systems rather than geography that matter. As the Winter Olympics begins, it is hard to ignore that the Chinese Communist Party is using the privilege of hosting the Games to advance a very different agenda and set of values.

Global sporting events can never be separated from politics no matter how much we wish it differently. For autocracies, it is a unique opportunity to manipulate and control the way outsiders see their country, society, and institutions. Think Berlin in 1936, Moscow in 1980, Beijing in 2008, and Sochi in 2014.