The diplomatic boycott was joined by China’s neighbour India on Thursday when China selected People’s Liberation Army soldier Qi Fabao as a torch-bearer. The Chinese soldier was injured in border clashes where 20 Indian soldiers died last year.

China’s growing number of adversaries believe its actions show the self-conscious but friendlier China of 2008 is gone, replaced by an unrelenting drive towards ideological and economic conformity and territorial ambition.

A wave of nationalism comes with it, fuelled by a Chinese Communist Party that is more confident of its role in the world and increasingly determined to lead it. China’s ethnic and political minorities in Hong Kong and Xinjiang have been repressed in the process of achieving national unity - leading human rights groups to call for a boycott of the Games and its opening ceremony.

Xi, who organised the 2008 Summer Games, is now China’s President. These Games are a capstone to his eight years in power and a key driver in his push for another four. The Chinese President will be front and centre of the international attention on Friday night.

“The Olympic Games are not just for personal achievements but also for collective unity,” said Wang. “This is President Xi’s idea of a global community for a shared future.”

ATTENDING

Russia: President Vladimir Putin is meeting Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ahead of the opening ceremony, underscoring closer ties between Beijing and Moscow as they both face Western criticism and pressure.

Egypt and Serbia: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic have growing frictions with the West over their authoritarian policies and human rights records. Both leaders have gravitated toward China. Vucic called Xi his “brother” for supplying Serbia with respirators and vaccines.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE: Beijing’s Gulf relations are above all about energy. China is Saudi Arabia’s largest buyer of oil and a major customer for Qatar’s natural gas. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, is appearing at the Winter Games as investors and some governments signal warming relations after the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Central Asia: The leaders of all five former Soviet republics in Central Asia are heading to Beijing, highlighting the region’s increasingly close ties with China. Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Zhaparov pushed last month for the revival of a long-delayed project to build a railroad from China through his country to Uzbekistan. China is Turkmenistan’s only reliable major buyer of natural gas.

Argentina and Ecuador: Argentina is set to become the first major Latin American country to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. President Alberto Fernández is also expected to discuss China’s help building Argentina’s first nuclear power plant since 1981. President Guillermo Lasso is seeking to renegotiate Ecuador’s $6.4 billion debt with China.

United Nations: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will attend. The IOC is a close partner of the U.N., Guterres said, and the Olympics bring together people with a message of solidarity and peace. “This is ... a message that, in my opinion, is more relevant than the political circumstances that exists in the countries where the Olympics take place,” he told The Associated Press.

NOT ATTENDING:

Boycotts: The United States announced a diplomatic boycott while allowing its athletes to compete. Major US allies followed including Britain, Australia and Canada, whose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “We are extremely concerned by the repeated human rights violations by the Chinese government.” Kosovo and Lithuania, whose relations with China have nosedived over their ties with Taiwan, are also taking part in the boycott. India said it won’t send any officials following reports that a Chinese military commander who was involved in deadly clashes with Indian border forces in 2020 had been chosen as one of the Olympic torchbearers in Beijing.

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Non-boycotters: The Norwegian and Swedish royals, who normally attend the Winter Olympics, aren’t going. Neither are any leaders from Germany, Austria or Switzerland, all big winter sports nations. Officially they’re citing the pandemic, rather than any diplomatic protest. Others such as Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand have cited COVID restrictions while also expressing concern over China’s human rights situation.

with AP

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