Xi’s face time with IOC chief marks rare foreign interaction

Chinese President Xi Jinping with IOC president Thomas Bach at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Jan 25, 2022. Reuters

BEIJING (Bloomberg): Chinese President Xi Jinping met in person with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in Beijing, possibly his first face time with a foreign dignitary since the early days of the pandemic.

The last known meeting that Xi had with a foreign leader was in March 2020, when he and Pakistani President Arif Alvi discussed measures to fight the coronavirus in the Chinese capital, according to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency.