Cambodia supports Beijing Winter Olympics, opposes politicization of sports

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government has taken a stand to defend the Beijing Olympic Winter Games and said it would continue to object to all forms of politicization of sports, local media reported on Friday, citing senior officials.

Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Bin Chhin said Cambodia wants to maintain the purity of the Olympics movement, supporting unity and friendship, and opposing separatist movements and anti-Olympics tendencies.

"We will continue to oppose all forms of Olympics politics and sports politics, and we look forward to the full success of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is hosted by China," Chhin was quoted as saying by the Khmer Times.

Chhin made the remarks during the 2nd Dialogue on Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilizations via video held recently.

National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) secretary-general Vath Chamroeun said that some movements have raised the issue of human rights in China but Cambodia only thinks about sports, not politics.

"Sport does not discriminate. Sport is a universal language," he said.

"Cambodia joins all sporting events around the world but for the Olympic Winter Games in China, our Cambodian teams did not qualify so we cannot (send our athletes) at this time," said Chamroeun. "But we are still supporting the Olympic Winter Games in China next month."