BEIJING — China's President
Xi Jinping had a rare pandemic-era
encounter with a foreign visitor Tuesday when he met with Olympic chief Thomas
Bach as the country readies to host the Winter Olympics.
اضافة اعلان
"Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach in Beijing on Tuesday," read
a statement from Xinhua news agency, which gave no further details.
Bach arrived in the city on Saturday and went into a "three-day
isolation" ahead of the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony on February 4,
Xinhua said in an earlier report.
China, where the coronavirus first emerged, has maintained a strict
zero-COVID-19 policy that includes mass testing and snap lockdowns in response
to the slightest hint of an outbreak.
This has kept infections low but left the country cut off
internationally.
Most visitors from abroad are forced to quarantine for multiple weeks
but different rules are in place for the Olympics.
Participants will fly straight into a "closed loop" bubble in
Beijing and are forbidden from interacting with the public.
Xi has not left China since the start of the pandemic, and last met a
visiting head of state in March 2020 — when he received Pakistani President
Arif Alvi in Beijing.
Xi is expected to meet various world leaders and dignitaries during the
Olympics.
China hopes to make next week's Games a soft power triumph, although
the lead-up has been clouded by a diplomatic boycott from several western
countries over the country's human rights record.
Bach has been a staunch supporter of
Beijing's Games and has insisted
that the IOC remains politically neutral.
His organization drew fire late last year for participating in a video
call with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who had briefly disappeared after
making sexual assault allegations against a top official.
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