Nigeria’s flag was hoisted in China on Friday as the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics commenced.
The games are holding as the world continues to struggle to turn the page on a troubled build-up overshadowed by human rights concerns and Covid.
The lattice-shaped “Bird’s Nest” stadium took centre stage, just as it did at the 2008 Games — seen as China’s coming-out party on the world stage — as Beijing becomes the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympics.
The opening ceremony was attended by President Xi Jinping, under whose rule China has adopted a more muscular attitude internationally compared to 14 years ago.
Xi, who will declare the Games officially open, will be joined by more than 20 world leaders including Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the two presidents having met earlier in the day.
China and Russia have both seen ties with Washington deteriorate markedly, and with tensions rising in Europe over Russia’s troop build-up on the Ukrainian border, Putin hailed the “truly unprecedented nature” of relations with his hosts.
The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia are among countries staging a diplomatic boycott of the Games over China’s rights record, particularly the fate of the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.
Their athletes will still compete at the Games, which run until February 20 and are taking place inside a vast “closed loop” designed to thwart the virus.
Some spectators will be present at the opening ceremony at the 90,000-capacity “Bird’s Nest” but it is unclear how many and, like sports events at the Games, tickets were not sold to the general public because of the pandemic.
The show is the mastermind of acclaimed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou, who was behind the 2008 extravaganza.
Zhang has promised a “totally innovative” ceremony but conceded that the pandemic and freezing weather will limit its scale compared to the Summer Games, when 15,000 performers took part in a lavish gala featuring opera singers, acrobats and drummers.
This time about 3,000 performers will take part and themes will include “environmental protection and low carbon emission”.
