Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi plan to voice their shared views on international security at a meeting during the Beijing Olympics, a Kremlin advisor said on Wednesday.

Addressing the IOC session in the capital via a brief video message, Xi said China had played an active part in the Olympic movement since staging the 2008 Summer Olympics.

For this year’s Winter Games, the country had engaged 300 million Chinese in winter sports as promised, he said.

"From 'One World-One Dream' in 2008 to 'Together for a Shared Future' in 2022, China has taken an active part in the Olympic movement and consistently championed the Olympic spirit," he said, as quoted by Reuters.

"The Olympic Winter Games will open tomorrow evening. The world is turning its eyes to China, and China is ready. We will do our best to deliver to the world a streamlined, safe and splendid Games."

The Chinese capital will become the first city to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympics, but preparations have been hit by diplomatic boycotts and the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States, Great Britain and some other allied countries have staged a diplomatic boycott of the Games over human rights in China.

Rights groups have long criticized the IOC for awarding the Games to China, citing its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups, which the US has deemed genocide.

China denies the allegations of human rights abuses.

IOC president Thomas Bach has repeatedly defended his organization’s choice for the 2022 Olympics, saying the IOC was not a political body, nor was its mandate to influence laws in sovereign states.

He said on Thursday that in the two years leading up to the Beijing Games, he had seen "the dark clouds of the growing politicization of sport on the horizon".

"We also saw that in some peoples' minds, the boycott ghosts of the past were rearing their ugly heads again," Bach said.

The 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics during the Cold War era were all hit by boycotts of countries, severely denting the event's universality and finances.

"This is why we have been working even harder to get this unifying mission of the Olympic Games across to as many leaders and decision-makers as possible," Bach said.

He also noted what he said were “major commercial opportunities created by these Games”, which he expected would transform the global winter sports industry.

"Today, we can say China is a winter sport country. This is why Beijing 2022 will be the start of a new era for global winter sport," Bach said.

He estimated China's winter sports industry would be worth some US$150 billion by 2025.

"From this tremendous growth, the winter sports industry around the world will benefit," Bach said.

 

Xi-Putin meet

The Chinese and Russian leaders will meet in Beijing on Friday as their countries pursue deeper ties in the face of increasing criticism from the West.

"A joint statement on international relations entering a new era has been prepared for the talks," the Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters during a briefing, as quoted by AFP.

It will reflect Moscow and Beijing's "common views" on security among other issues, he said.

"China supports Russia's demands for security guarantees," the advisor added, referring to requests that Russia put to NATO and Washington over the ongoing crisis over Ukraine.

Ushakov told reporters that after talks with officials, Putin and Xi would hold a one-on-one meeting to discuss "pressing issues and questions".

He said a number of agreements on gas were being prepared and that the head of Russian energy giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, would be traveling to Beijing with Putin.

In the evening, Putin would take part in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, Ushakov added.

Russian officials, including Putin, are banned from attending international sporting competitions over a doping scandal, but they may attend if they are invited by the head of state of the host country.

Russian athletes are allowed to compete as “neutrals”, without the Russian flag or anthem, if they can prove their doping record is clean.

Beijing and Moscow have denounced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Olympics from several countries over what Western governments argue are widespread rights abuses by China.