There hasn't been such a blatant polyphony of EU states in dealing with China for a long time.

For weeks, European politicians had assured that they were trying to find a common position on the question of a possible diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics.

But the debate turned into a non-starter.

The positions were miles apart.

The Grand Duke of Luxembourg was in such a hurry to get to Beijing that he was even the first foreign guest of state to arrive.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda also pays his respects to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Other countries like Finland have sent their sports ministers or their deputies.

Even among those states that are not represented by political delegations in Beijing, there is no common denominator.

Denmark justifies its absence with the human rights situation in China.

Austria refers to the Chinese Corona requirements.

The German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, refrains from giving any justification and speaks bluntly of a personal decision.

Poland's President should not have come

How difficult it would be to find common ground at EU level was already evident on Baerbock's first trip abroad to France in December.

At the same time that she was still talking about coordination with the European partners in Paris, the French education minister announced that his assistant sports minister would attend the opening ceremony in Beijing.

Reason: Sport must be "protected from political influence".

That seems almost negligently naive in view of the politicization of the games by China.

Beijing is not shy about fielding a soldier as the Olympic torch bearer involved in deadly clashes with India in 2020.

Above all, Poland's President Duda has done the Chinese ruler a great favor.

The presence of the head of state of the EU's sixth largest economy, and a traditional US ally at that, is helping Xi Jinping to feign Sino-European harmony.

Apparently that was so important to him that Beijing made an exception for the Pole.

Duda had only recently been infected with Corona and should not have come at all according to the otherwise practiced entry rules.

All of this makes EU calls for a common stance on China seem empty lip service.

China is once again dividing Europeans with a mixture of threats and the lure of its growing winter sports market, which IOC President Thomas Bach estimates could reach $150 billion by 2025.

The Olympics are another missed opportunity to use the EU's political clout to show the limits of the Chinese dictatorship.