IV. Reading Comprehension (18%)
       In 2015, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2022 Winter Olympicsto Beijing, some people criticized the decision because of China’s human-rights record. Just in theprevious few weeks China had rounded up hundreds of civil-society activists across the country.But the rival candidate for the games was another authoritarian state, Kazakhstan. Democraciessuch as Norway had pulled out of the race. And few people even imagined that, within two years,China would be building a gulag in Xinjiang to incarcerate more than 1m ethnic Uyghurs because oftheir religious and cultural beliefs.
        Attitudes in the West towards China have hardened a lot since the IOC made its decision. InJanuary America called the repression in Xinjiang “genocide”. On March 22nd it joined Britain,Canada and the European Union in a simultaneous declaration of sanctions against Chineseofficials involved in that region’s atrocities. It was a rare co-ordinated attempt by Western powersto put pressure on China over its human-rights record. They have been riled, too, by China’sclampdown in Hong Kong and its growing challenge to liberal norms globally. The winter games,which are due to begin on February 4th, will be among the most controversial in Olympic history.             Some countries’ leaders may stay away, as may some athletes. America’s president, Joe Biden,has yet to clarify what he will do. But it is unlikely that he or any other senior American official willattend, given how they have described China’s actions in Xinjiang. Mitt Romney, a Republicansenator, wrote this month that his country should send its athletes but ask spectators, other thanparticipants’ family members, not to go. China may decide to keep tight border-controls anyway, ifit fears a resurgence of covid-19.
        IOC officials say boycotts punish athletes and do not work: the Soviet occupation ofAfghanistan continued for eight years after the Moscow Olympics. The IOC shunned South Africaduring the apartheid era, but notes that it did so in concert with a broad un-backed internationalmovement. South Africa, however, lacked the political and economic might of China. This monthThomas Bach, the IOC’s president, said his organization was not a “super world government”.
        If an Olympic boycott movement gains momentum, it may be due as much to China’sbehavior abroad as to its abuses at home.
【題組】28. Why does the West thwart Beijing’s hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics?
(A) China is villainous for its inhumane policies against the Uighurs.
(B) Kazakhstan has been communicating friendliness and openness.
(C) IOC committed something iniquitous that infuriated Norway.
(D) Those whose human rights have been deprived spoke out.