2022 Olympics: unlike the United States, France will not participate in the diplomatic boycott – franceinfo

France will not follow the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, launched Monday December 6 by the United States, announced Thursday December 9 at the microphone of BFMTV and RMC, the Minister of National Education, Youth and Sports, Jean-Michel Blanquer. France “won’t do it“, he asserted.

The decision comes after the leading United States, followed by New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada, announced that none of their government officials will attend.

The minister explained that France had two attitudes towards Beijing. On the question of China, “France is unambiguous. We condemned the phenomenon of persecution of minorities such as Uyghurs, human rights violations, and I expressed my concern, and I still express it, on the fate of the player tennis Peng Shuai. We must be clear, firm, we do not accept it. ” But the subject of the diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Games is a “other story”, he continued.

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“We must be attentive to the relationship between sport and politics. Sport must be preserved as much as possible from political interference. Otherwise, it can go in any direction and we will end up killing all the competitions,” justified Jean-Michel Blanquer. The minister also specified that he will not go to Beijing, but that his Minister for Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, will go there, like Sophie Cluzel, “will go to the Paralympic Games title, but we have messages that are politically clear”, he concluded.