"China's efforts are of great significance to carry forward the Olympic spirit" (Meet at the Beijing Winter Olympics)

"Argentina has always firmly supported the Beijing Winter Olympics and believes that China has the ability to run this global event well, and the Beijing Winter Olympics will be a success!" Niu Wangdao, Argentine ambassador to China, said in an exclusive interview with this reporter recently.

Niu Wangdao visited the venues of the Winter Olympic Games with many foreign envoys in China and spoke highly of the great work done by the Chinese side. He said that all kinds of venues and facilities for the Beijing Winter Olympics have reached the world-class level. Although the new crown pneumonia epidemic is still spreading around the world, China's epidemic prevention and control has achieved remarkable results, and the construction of venues and facilities has not been affected. The National Ski Jumping Center in Zhangjiakou was so impressed by Niu Wangdao that he and his colleagues boarded the highest point of the track and took a group photo.

Niu Wangdao said that the construction of venues and facilities for the Beijing Winter Olympics pays attention to environmental friendliness, and the use of green energy makes the Winter Olympics more "low-carbon". In addition, the venue design not only fully meets the needs of the event, but also fully considers the reuse after the game. For example, infrastructure such as "Snow Ruyi", Winter Olympic Village, and Beijing-Zhang high-speed railway will not only provide first-class services for this Winter Olympic Games, but also provide support for future mass sports and theme tourism. "Now, the fastest travel time from Beijing to Zhangjiakou has been shortened to less than 1 hour. I plan to take my family to Zhangjiakou for skiing after the Winter Olympics. Niu Wangdao said.

At this Winter Olympics, Argentine athletes will participate in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding and other sports. Argentina is one of the few South American countries in the world with year-round snow resorts, and some places in the south have good ski slopes and facilities. After visiting the venues of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Niu Wangdao hopes to bring some experience back to Argentina to help upgrade the local ice and snow sports infrastructure and supporting facilities, "hoping that Argentina and China will further deepen cooperation in the field of infrastructure."

"This year, Afghanistan and China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. We look forward to the relations between the two countries to a new level under the leadership of the two heads of state. Niu Wangdao said that although Argentina and China are geographically distant, this has not affected the fruitful cooperation between the two countries. China provided more than 2 billion doses of vaccines to the world throughout last year, providing important help for Argentina's fight against the epidemic; the Argentine Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, China signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building football schools in July last year, further deepening bilateral sports exchanges and cooperation... "Vaccine cooperation and sports cooperation have provided strong support for deepening Arab-Chinese relations." ”

"Sports is a link to promote friendship between people." Niu Wangdao said. Sports have no borders, and for the politicization of the Winter Olympics and sports events by individual countries, Niu Wangdao said: "The Olympic Games should be a sports event that unites the world, and China's efforts are of great significance to carrying forward the Olympic spirit." ”

People's Daily ( 2022-01-14 03 edition)