On November 20, 2021, Ambassador Liu Shaobin attended the Opening Ceremony of the Webinar “Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind with Sports -- Running towards the 2022 Winter Olympics” and delivered a speech. Mr. Adnan Fırat, President of the Turkey-China Business Development Friendship Association, Mr. Erdem Doğan, Director of the Turkish Olympic Committee Sports Training Bureau and Mr. Suat Çelen, President of the Turkish Gymnastics Federation spoke at the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Ambassador Liu introduced Beijing’s preparations for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and stressed that in the face of major changes unseen in a century as well as global challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change, no country can stay unaffected. Only by pulling together in trying times and building a community with a shared future for mankind can we overcome difficulties and embrace a bright future together. The slogan of the Beijing Winter Olympics is “Together for a Shared Future”, which reflects the world’s common aspiration to join hands for a better tomorrow.
Ambassador Liu pointed out that China and Turkey have maintained close exchanges and cooperation in the field of sports in recent years, adding color to the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. China is willing to work with Turkey and the rest of the international community to oppose the politicization of sports and demonstrate the new Olympic spirit of “together”. Learning from each other and enhancing friendship, we will join hands towards a shared future. China has full confidence to present to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid Olympic Games. We expect that athletes from China, Turkey and other countries will give their best performance and achieve good results at the Winter Olympics, displaying charm of ice and snow sports and interpreting the Olympic spirit of “faster, higher, stronger - together” with their actions.
The Turkish guests said that sports embody the common values of fairness, equality and peace that mankind pursues with unremitting efforts. The Olympic Games is an ideal stage for the best athletes from all countries to compete fairly and should not be mixed with any political factors. The attempt of certain individual countries to obstruct and boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics for their selfish political interests under the pretext of human rights is doomed to failure. The Turkish Olympic Committee and the sports community will actively organize the national delegation of ice and snow athletes to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics, believing that Beijing 2022 will be a splendid Olympic Games that makes history.
This virtual seminar was organized by Turkey's “Belt and Road” magazine together with Istinye University, the Turkish Students’ Association in China and other institutions. Nearly 30 guests from Turkish sports and academic community and friends from Serbia, Algeria and other countries attended the seminar.