Australia, the UK and Canada join the US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

(CNN) – Australia will join U.S in a diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday. Canada will do the same, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his official Twitter account. The United Kingdom also joins the measure.

Morrison said that while Australian athletes will continue to attend the Games in February, the government will keep official representatives at home.

At a press conference in Sydney, the Australian leader said that “human rights abuses and problems in Xinjiang” were among the concerns raised by the Australian government to Beijing.

“I am very … happy to speak with the Chinese government on these issues, and there has been no obstacle for that to happen on our part, but the Chinese government has not consistently taken advantage of those opportunities to meet with us on those issues. “, said.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also join the diplomatic boycott.
“Canada remains deeply concerned about reports of human rights violations in China. As a result, we will not send diplomatic representatives to Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We will continue to support our hard-working athletes to compete on the world stage.” Trudeau said in a tweet.

Canada remains deeply disturbed by reports of human rights violations in China. As a result, we won’t be sending diplomatic representatives to Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We’ll continue to support our athletes who work hard to compete on the world stage.

– Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 8, 2021

For its part, the UK said on Wednesday that it will join the US, Canada and Australia in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, prompting a severe rebuke from China, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was trying to smear the Games, Reuters reported.

“There will indeed be a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, no ministers or officials are expected to attend,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “I don’t think sports boycotts are sensible and that is still the government’s policy,” he added.

“Lowercase and symbolic measures”

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would love to do something with “useful effect” rather than launch a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.

“We have to be clear, or we say that we will do a full boycott and we will not send any athletes, or we say that we will try to get back into things and try to have a useful effect,” Macron said.

“We must not politicize this issue, especially when it comes to taking tiny and symbolic measures.” Macron said he prefers to work with the International Olympic Committee to ensure that China will protect all athletes, in light of the recent incident with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.

“We will assess the evolution of the situation together with the other Europeans and with the IOC.”

What’s going on

For months, activists have called for a boycott of the Games for the human rights violations committed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang and Tibet and for its political repression in Hong Kong.

The United States and other Western countries have accused Beijing of incarcerating more than a million Muslim-majority Uighurs in Xinjiang detention centers, where some former detainees claim to have been tortured, raped or forcibly sterilized.

Beijing denies the allegations and claims that the camps are re-education centers designed to fight separatism and Islamist terrorism in the far western region.

On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Australia criticized Canberra’s decision to join the boycott of the Games, saying the decision would not improve the already cold relations between the two countries.

“As we all know, the blame for the current state of Sino-Australian relations falls squarely on the Australian side,” the statement said.

Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in January that awarding a country the Games did not mean that it would approve its “human rights standards“, the activists said that granting the high-level event to China added legitimacy to the actions of the ruling Communist Party.

Morrison’s announcement comes after the Biden administration on Monday decided not to send an official US delegation to the Games, the first country to confirm a diplomatic boycott.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US boycott was a statement against “China’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”

American athletes will be able to continue competing in the Games, but the administration will not send officials. The same policy applies to the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, scheduled for Beijing in March.

Following the US decision, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it had initiated a “solemn representation” with Washington and promised to take “strong countermeasures”, without saying what those measures would be.

The United States will host the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, while the 2032 Olympics will take place in Brisbane, Australia.

In his remarks on Wednesday, Morrison said Australia is a great sporting nation and wished the IOC the best for the Beijing Winter Games.

“I very much separate the issues of sport and the issues that are between two governments … Australia will not step back from the strong position it has had, defending the interests of Australians,” Morrison said.

Report by Ben Westcott, Caitlin McGee, Xiaofei Xu, Meredith Ruleman and Reuters