Canada joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday, with China calling the boycotts “political stance” and a smear campaign.
The United States was the first to announce the boycott this week, saying its government officials would not attend the Beijing Olympics in February due to China’s “human rights atrocities” on Monday, weeks after talks aimed at easing restrictions on restrictions. tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.
China said on Tuesday the United States would “pay a price” for its decision and warned of countermeasures, but gave no details. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) tried to downplay the growing diplomatic boycott.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Beijing would be aware of long-standing Western concerns about human rights in China. “(So) it should come as no surprise that we decided not to send a diplomatic mission.”
Trudeau’s decision certainly seems to add tension to a relationship already strained by the detention of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Canada accused Trudeau of making false claims.
“Based on ideological bias, as well as on lies and rumours, Canada and a handful of Western countries have been blatantly engaged in political maneuvers in an attempt to disrupt the smooth progress of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their clumsiness could hardly find any support and is doomed to failure,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the Committee has always been concerned with the athletes’ participation in the Olympics.
So “we welcome the support for their Olympic teams that all these governments have highlighted,” he told a video news conference. “This gives the athletes security and that’s what the IOC is about.”
The Beijing 2022 Athletes Committee chairman said the Games were a podium for athletes, not a catwalk for politics, according to Xinhua news agency.
“The politicization of sports and the use of the Olympics as a vehicle for political ends by individual politicians would undoubtedly violate (the) Olympic Charter,” said Yang Yang, the first gold medalist of the Winter Olympics in China.
Boycott Great Britain, Australia
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was previously asked in parliament whether his country would follow Washington’s lead, said: “There will in fact be a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, no ministers expected and no officials. “
“I don’t think sport boycotts are wise and that remains government policy,” he added, noting that British athletes will still compete.
China said it had not invited British officials.
“Making a problem with the presence of government officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics is essentially a political smear campaign,” said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London.
Earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia’s decision came because of its struggle to reopen diplomatic channels with China to discuss alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang’s far western region and Beijing’s moves against Australian imports.
China has denied any allegations in Xinjiang, saying the allegations are fabricated.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Australian politicians were concerned with “political stance”.
“Whether they come or not, nobody cares,” he added.
The Australian Olympic Committee said the boycott would not affect athletes’ preparations for the Games, which will run from February 4-20, adding that “diplomatic options” were a matter for governments.
For the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), a diplomatic boycott recognized the distinction between government participation and athletes, while providing a platform to shed light on Chinese issues.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee remain concerned about the problems in China, but understand that the Games will create an important platform to draw attention to them,” the COC said in a statement.
Slow to capture
Other US allies have been slow to commit to joining the boycott, though Japan is considering not sending cabinet members to the Games, the daily Sankei Shimbun said on Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.
“The decisions of countries to boycott the Olympics is their decision they have to make for themselves,” said White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre. “It’s up to them (other countries) to decide how to proceed, and whether to boycott or not.”
The administration of President Joe Biden cited what the United States calls genocide against Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region. China denies all rights violations.
The United States will host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and is preparing to bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.