By Tony Munroe, Muyu Xu and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China went bold with politics and sport on Friday. President Xi Jinping announced a new alliance to Russia’s Vladimir Putin hours after he presided over a stunning opening ceremony for the Olympics.

Opening ceremonies were held at the Bird’s Nest stadium in front of a smaller crowd due to COVID-19. They easily passed the difficult hurdles of China’s spectacles. A stage with 11,600m2 of LED-lit high-definition screens was home to three thousand performers.

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, dancing troupes filled the stadium with glowing green stalks. This was followed by a display of fireworks in white and green that spellpelled the “Spring”

The images were carved using lasers from the 23 Winter Games. Ice hockey players “broke” the block, which allowed for the emergence of white Olympic rings.

The traditional “parade among nations” saw competitors representing “Hong Kong, China”, as well as those from Russia’s Olympic Committee – the Russian delegation’s name while doping is banned in the country.

Fireworks were launched in the evening sky by triumphant Chinese soldiers after Xi announced the opening of the games. The most important pyrotechnics were launched into the night sky hours prior to the ceremony when Xi, Putin and their allies announced their friendship, declaring that there are “no boundaries” between them.

It served as a reminder of the fact that games were taking place in a context of intense geopolitical rivalry not seen since 1980s Cold War boycotts. This is when the United States was refused entry to the Olympics at Moscow.

Tense relations on the Eurasian continent were at their lowest point for many decades. Putin, Xi and others publicly took the sides of each other over a wide range of grievances.

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Similar to Japan’s COVID-19 epidemic, severe restrictions were imposed. The organisers of the Olympic Games decided not to sell tickets last month because China is still adhering to the “zero Covid” policy, even though the Omicron variant has spread rapidly around the world. An “closed loop” separates the Chinese public from competitors and other personnel.

However, the talk about war in Europe as well as escalating rivalry between Asia and America meant that COVID wasn’t the most distracting factor from sports. Inciting human rights violations, the United States and other nations have declined to send dignitaries from Washington to Beijing. Beijing refutes these allegations.

China’s position in international sport has been frequently in the spotlight in recent months due to Peng Shuai, a tennis player. After Peng Shuai made the accusation of sex assault against a high ranking official, the women’s tennis team in China cancelled its events. Chinese media showed Peng in public including an interview last year via video with Thomas Bach (International Olympic Committee boss).

The pandemic caused the officials visiting Beijing for the Olympics to be the first official visitors to Beijing in over two years. Putin was the guest of honor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his 2014 Winter Olympics just days before sending troops into Ukraine to seize Crimean Peninsula.

Beijing supported Russia’s call to NATO to stop expanding its borders – Moscow is centrally demanding this in the dispute with Western countries who believe Putin’s preparations for war in Ukraine.

Russia has sent more than 100,000 soldiers to Ukraine’s frontier. It denies any intention to invade, but it may take other unspecified military actions if demands are not met. This could include excluding Ukraine from NATO membership.

Moscow said for its part that it supports Beijing’s Taiwanese stance, and opposes Taiwanese independent status in any form.