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11/02/2024 09:26:56 am

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China to Lift Internet Control for 2022 Winter Olympics Attendees

China Celebrates 1st Anniversary Of Winning Bid For 2022 Winter Olympics

(Photo : Getty Images) Badaling Great Wall is illuminated during the one year anniversary of Beijing's successful bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics at the Badaling Great Wall on July 31, 2016 in Beijing, China.

China will temporarily lift its tough internet control for people attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the officials promised on Wednesday.

Officials reportedly gave its word that visitors of the upcoming Olympics will enjoy unrestrained access to the Internet, the MailOnline reported.

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"We will fully open internet access for all internet clients at competition venues, living quarters, and other areas," Zhang Jiandong, vice president of the Winter Olympics organizing committee and Beijing's vice mayor, said in a press conference, without giving details on how this will be done.

Meanwhile, Juan Antonio Samaranch, vice president of the International Olympic Committee, said: "It's guaranteed in the bid. All the experience we have had with Beijing is that they deliver on their word."

China keeps a tight rein on the Internet, as the government sees social media, especially foreign services, as a destabilizing force for the Chinese community and a threat to national security, Reuters reported.

Well-known foreign social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram as well as Google's main search engine or its Gmail service are inaccessible in the country without the specialized software to get past through what is called the "Great Firewall," according to Indian Express.

Beijing's willingness to spend big allowed it to win the 2022 winter games' bidding last summer, defeating European cities that withdrew because of budget concerns. It will be the first and only city to host both summer and winter Olympics, Bangkok Post reported.

On the other hand, the country is preparing not only to stage the event but also to train its athletes for the upcoming games. Yang Shuan, vice director of China's General Administration of Sport, said China hired more than two dozens of foreign coaches to train athletes, local coaches, and other technical matters.      

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