China hits back in row over ‘outsourced’ United States’ Olympic team uniforms

An UPROAR over the US Olympic team’s made-in-China uniforms is a blasphemy on the Olympic spirit which is supposed to separate sports from politics and a show of pure ignorance to boot, China’s official Xinhua news agency has said.

With US unemployment running high, American politicians have spoken out against the uniforms for the London Games, and six Democratic senators said they planned to introduce legislation requiring the ceremonial uniforms be produced in the United States.

But Chinese government-run Xinhua said in a commentary yesterday that it was hard to believe such hysteria over the matter could come from the mouths of such senior US politicians.

“The Olympics spirit is all about separating sports from politics, but these US politicians are going too far and trying to force a political tag onto the uniforms,” it said. “This is a parochial nationalistic attitude, a blasphemy on the Olympic spirit.”

There can be little doubt that US election year politics are to blame for this spat, as in the previous years the US Olympic team’s uniforms have also been made abroad, it said.

“The reason this issue has stirred people up is because the words ‘made in China’ touch upon the most sensitive topic of the US election – ‘outsourcing’,” Xinhua added.

The agency said the United States would do well to remember how many of its people benefit from the cheap goods China provides.