The outbreak of the new crown epidemic led to the closure of Shanghai. (Image credit: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
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[See China, May 20, 2022]Recently, China took into account the new crown epidemic in its territory and announced that it would abandon the 2023 plan.Asian CupTournament hosting rights.Give up next year’s Asian CupcompetitionIt is also equivalent to giving up the right to host the 2027 Asian Cup,CCPLarge-scale sports events have always been held as an important show to promote the “rise of a great power”. What is the reason for the CCP to shelve these “big projects” indefinitely?
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It is understood that the four-yearly Asian Cup was originally scheduled to be hosted in 10 cities in China from June 16 to July 16, 2023, and teams from 24 countries across Asia will participate. Not only the Asian Cup is affected, but the 2022 Asian Games hosted by Hangzhou are also rumored to be postponed.
Reuters broke the news that the Hangzhou Asian Games will be postponed to 2023. In addition, the Shantou Asian Youth Games originally scheduled to be held in October has been postponed to December. The latest news confirms that Shantou has decided to suspend the Asian Youth Games. Subsequently, the Universiade, originally scheduled to be held in Chengdu in June, will be postponed to 2023.
Three sporting events have either been cancelled or delayed, and the thorny question of what will happen to the hugely-expensive stadiums behind them. The fact that these three sports events have fallen to such a level may have something to do with the huge expenditure of the Beijing Winter Olympics and little success.
Taking the Asian Cup as an example, the declaration fee for the city alone exceeds 10 million yuan. In addition to the construction of venues and supporting seats, the investment in each city is at least 1 billion yuan; It is as high as 4 billion yuan, and it also includes nearly 20 new and renovated venues. The entire Asian Youth Festival will cost tens of billions of yuan.
Under the influence of the zero-clearing policy, the finances of many cities in the mainland have been strained to varying degrees. Compared with continuing to spend money and lose money, closing the operation is equivalent to stopping losses in time. According to the current situation that is extremely optimistic, the possibility of the postponed Hangzhou Asian Games and the Chengdu Universiade being cancelled is still very high. This year’s Beijing Winter Olympics may be a dead end, and the CCP will no longer host large-scale events for a long time in the future.
In contrast, before, local governments made great efforts to host various events, such as the city marathons that bloomed everywhere in the mainland, which all reflected the wishful thinking of the local rulers. On the surface, hosting events can increase GDP and increase political performance, but secretly it is another round of corruption. The feast of corruption, of course, officials could not ask for it, so they flocked to it.
In this regard, the views of the top leaders of the CCP have changed slightly. In the past, they were happy to see it happen. After all, it can prove the advantages of socialism in multiple dimensions. Today, the top leaders are extremely reluctant to hold large-scale events in places. On the one hand, it is unwilling to “steal the limelight” in places today.
Therefore, after the Winter Olympics, it is rumored that Beijing will no longer hold large-scale events and competitions. Now it seems that the rumors are almost true. Now the remaining 3 sports events are taking the excuse not to cause the epidemic, or it is a “sensible move” to suspend or postpone them.
The more the central government is reluctant for local governments to spend money indiscriminately for the sake of face, the more severe the current economic situation is. The two-month closure of Shanghai has dragged the economy of the entire Yangtze River Delta to a low point. In Shanghai, with a population of 20 million, the sales of new cars in April broke a record of zero, and the predicament faced by Shanghai is being replicated to more mainland China. city.
Of course, some people will say that the suspension of the event does not mean anything, but everything has to be linked. In April, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, revealed how serious the problems China is currently facing in an inadvertent speech. return”.
It is not difficult to find that there are obvious contradictions in this sentence, but the fact that foreign capital is rapidly leaving China is unquestionable, which can also explain why the mainland stock market experienced a round of tragic decline last month, and the money shortage has begun to spread until it is flooded. disaster.
Coupled with the decline in exports due to the epidemic, the CCP has to face the dilemma of housing leaks and overnight rains. Consumption, exports, and investment are the troikas that drive economic growth. The consumption sector has always been a shortcoming, and the mainland’s economy can take off. On the cornerstones of exports and investment, the most important parts are now shaky.
In this way, how to tighten the belt to get through hard times may be more important than the vain pride of holding the event.
(The article only represents the author’s personal position and opinion)
Source: Watch China
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