PHNOM PENH, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will promote solidarity and cooperation and should not be politicized, a scholar has said.
Any attempt to politicize the Olympic Games and sport "can damage the Olympic spirit as well as the purity of the Olympic movement," Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said Wednesday.
Phea made the remarks during an international conference on China's role in the 21st century and its relations with ASEAN.
Noting that Beijing will become the first city in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympics, Phea said China is striving to contribute a "simple, safe and splendid" Olympic Games to the world under well-prepared pandemic prevention and control.
Phea's comments were echoed by Cambodian government chief spokesman Phay Siphan, who told Xinhua that "countries should not politicize the Olympics because it is against the Olympic spirit."
He said the Olympics is an opportunity for athletes around the world to demonstrate their excellence in sports, not to express ideology or opposition.
"The Olympics builds closer friendship, solidarity and cooperation among nations," Siphan said.
