PYEONGCHANG — President Xi Jinping’s special envoy Liu Yandong met with Chinese media representatives in the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games on Feb 25.

Liu, vice-premier, visited China Central Television’s office and studio at the IBC, was briefed on Chinese media reporting of the Winter Olympics and exchanged views with media representatives, before she attended the Olympic closing ceremony.

Liu told Chinese reporters that President Xi attaches great importance to the Pyeongchang Games and for the first time sent two special envoys to the Pyeongchang Olympics, the first being Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

The vice-premier noted that the Winter Olympics features two platforms of competition－one for sports and the other for media.

As athletes demonstrate their fighting spirit and a strong will to challenge human limits, journalists present the beauty and spectacle of sports to the global audience in a timely manner, said Liu.

The vice-premier encouraged Chinese journalists to continue hard work during the Winter Paralympics which opens on March 9.

The closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games marks the start of a four-year cycle leading to Beijing 2022, said Liu, adding the following four years are important in Chinese history.

The year of 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up; 2019 is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China; 2020 is the year when the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects will be completed; 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Liu noted.

Liu emphasized that the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics can provide a strong impetus for coordinated development in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province and Tianjin.

The vice-premier encouraged Chinese media to spread China’s idea of hosting the Games on a green, sharing, open and clean basis and the promise China has made to the world that the country will deliver a splendid, fantastic and extraordinary Winter Olympics.