Ambassador of China to Qatar H E Zhou Jian has said that China firmly supports Qatar World Cup and believes that Qatar is capable of hosting a wonderful World Cup with ‘unique Arab style’.
“Qatar World Cup will inject more stability and positive energy into today’s turbulent world through the platform of sports events,” he said yesterday addressing a press conference. He added that 1.4 billion Chinese people are truly happy for Qatar to host the World Cup and sincerely wish the Qatar World Cup a complete success.
“We have noticed that some political forces do not wish to see the success of the Qatar World Cup. They have launched a ‘diplomatic boycott’ out of ideological prejudice and based on lies and rumors, trying to interfere with the Qatar World Cup,” he said rebutting criticism by some quarters on Qatar’s hosting of FIFA World Cup.
“We appreciate the positive achievements Qatar has made in protecting workers’ rights and interests and we believe that Qatar is fully capable of hosting the World Cup successfully. Those who attempt to politically interfere in the Qatar World Cup will ultimately fail,” he added.
He said that Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup twelve years ago. “The Qatari people have honoured their commitment and overcome numerous difficulties to successfully complete the preparation work related to the World Cup, including infrastructure construction, transportation, security, health and epidemic prevention, fan reception, publicity and promotion.”
Terming it a ‘unique World Cup’, the Ambassador said that the tournament is being held for the first time in an Arabic country, for the first time in the winter of the northern hemisphere and for the first time using semi-automatic offside penalty technology.
“It has provided a platform for the Qatari people to showcase their national culture and development achievements, and a window for people around the world to better understand the Arab world.”
Ambassador Zhou Jian added: “This is a united World Cup. As the three theme songs of the tournament – ‘Hayya Hayya (Better Together)’, ‘Arhbo (Welcome)’ and ‘Light the Sky’ sing, unity is our most powerful weapon to transcend ideological barriers and overcome common challenges.”
He said that this is a ‘green World Cup’. “For the first time in the tournament, sea water desalination and solar photovoltaic power generation are used on a large scale, and for the first time, a fully detachable stadium has been introduced. It is worth mentioning that the Lusail Stadium project, undertaken by Chinese Construction team, has also received five-star recognition from the FIFA Green Construction Evaluation System, making it one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly stadium projects with the highest level of green construction,” the Ambassador noted.
Zhou Jian said that China’s support for Qatar is concrete and practical. “From the Lusail Stadium to the 1,500 new energy buses, from the stadium’s communications and network equipment to the World Cup souvenirs and t-shirts, “built by China” and “made in China” can be seen everywhere. In just a few days, the two adorable giant pandas Jing Jing and Si Hai will come out of quarantine and officially meet the Qatari public, adding a sense of excitement to the festive atmosphere in Qatar.”
Talking on criticism on Qatar’s hosting of FIFA World Cup by some quarters, he said that the same smear campaign had hit the Beijing Winter Olympics earlier this year. “Whenever there is a major or happy event in a developing country, these people would jump in and engage in political manipulation in the name of human rights to destroy the festive atmosphere, and create obstacles for the local people. It is obvious that the so-called human rights issue is nothing but a deliberate and arbitrary accusation.”
He said that it is just a tool for some forces to interfere in the internal affairs of developing countries and suppress their development and progress.
The Ambassador noted that over the past 10 years, under the strategic guidance of our two heads of states, China-Qatar relations have entered a golden period of great development.
“President Xi Jinping met with H H the Amir for four times over the decade, laying out master plans for China-Qatar relations in the new era. Our two sides established a strategic partnership and firmly support each other on issues concerning each others’ core interests. Our pragmatic cooperation has yielded fruitful results. The two sides have formed a cooperation pattern with oil and gas as the core, infrastructure as a main focus, and financial investment and high-tech as new growth points.”
He said that bilateral trade volume has more than doubled to over $18bn, and China has become Qatar’s largest trading partner, largest source of imports and top destination of exports.
