The 22nd Winter Olympic Games, running from February 7 to 23, are now under way in Sochi, Russia. The opening ceremony on February 7 was spectacular and impressive with distinctive Russian characteristics, and marked a good start. The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics have the following to watch:

First, Russia attempts to build itself into a world power by hosting the Games.

Sochi is known as the “Pearl of the Black Sea” and is hosting the biggest ever Winter Olympics. President Putin said: “Russia has worked towards this moment for seven years.” Based on the Russian official data, the Sochi preparations would make the Games the most expensive one in the Olympic history. Total expense was estimated to amount to $51 billion, almost triple the expense of the Nagano Winter Olympics, which stood at $17.5 billion, and also exceeding the expense of the Beijing Summer Olympics in Beijing six years ago, which was $40 billion.

Of the total expense for the Sochi Winter Olympics, costs on security alone were as high as $2 billion. The Russian security departments mobilized a big amount of new equipment for the Games. During the Games, drones will hover and special forces are deployed into the sea to keep an alert eye for security. Russia also deployed short-range air-defense missile systems to counter any possible airplane or cruise missile attacks.

It is known to all that security is one of the biggest concerns of this Winter Olympics. The Russian side stressed time and again that it is capable of making the Sochi Winter Olympics “the safest Olympic Games in history.” President Putin vowed to build “iron walls” in Sochi to guarantee safety, security and success of the Winter Games. According to the plan announced by the Russian Interior Ministry, 30,000 police officers and soldiers have been mobilized to perform security missions during the Games, drones are deployed and more than 5,500 security cameras were installed to spot any possible terrorist activities.

Second, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership was further elevated.

President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 6-8. This was the first time that the Chinese head of state attended a big international sporting event held outside of China. The Russian side said that President Xi’s visit showed China’s support for the Olympic movement and for Russia in hosting the Winter Olympics.

The Chinese and Russian heads of state have met six times in less than one year. During the meeting between Xi and Putin on February 6, they comprehensively summarized the development and the important achievements of China-Russia relations over the past year, and made strategic planning and deployment of bilateral cooperation in the coming year, and reached important consensus on strengthening bilateral strategic coordination on major international and regional issues.

It is worth mentioning that the two heads of state decided to co-host the celebration events for the 70th anniversary of the victory of the world anti-fascist war and China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 2015 to remember the history as a warning to posterity. Putin said the heinous crimes of the Nazi forces invading the Soviet Union and other European countries and of the Japanese militarism against the Chinese people and other victims in Asian countries cannot be forgotten.