Canada, Australia, UK announce diplomatic boycott of the Beijing2022 Winter Olympics
- In Reports
- 05:11 PM, Dec 09, 2021
- Myind Staff
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that his country will follow others like the United States in undertaking a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Trudeau made the announcement in Ottawa and tweeted, “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.”
The boycott was expected after Canada’s principal allies including the US, the United Kingdom and Australia already took such action.
In a statement attributed to a China’s spokesperson, it said Trudeau had “falsely claimed” there were human rights violations by the Chinese government and “based on this groundless accusation” decided on the diplomatic boycott.
“The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this, and has lodged stern representations with the Canadian side,” the statement said.
It also accused Canada and other Western governments of “been flagrantly engaged in political manoeuvring” based on “ideological biases as well as lies and rumours” in an attempt to “to disrupt the smooth progress of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games”.
“The Canadian side’s hyping up a “diplomatic boycott” without even being invited to the Games is a pure self entertainment,” it added.
“Canada must stop politicising sports, stop disrupting and undermining the Beijing Winter Olympics immediately, lest it should lead to self-inflicted humiliation,” it concluded.
The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees issued a statement on the decision and said they “understand and respect” it.
“We also recognise how this announcement draws the important distinction between the participation of athletes and the participation of government officials at the Games,” the statement noted.
Relations between Canada and China have deteriorated in recent times, since senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver in 2018 on charges of allegedly defrauding a financial institution to bypass sanctions upon the Iranian regime. Days later, two Canadians, including a former diplomat was arrested by China. Trudeau described that as “hostage diplomacy”.
The two Canadians were released in September this year in what was seen as an exchange of prisoners and Meng also flew back to China after agreeing to a plea deal with American prosecutors.
Earlier in parliament British Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed, "There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, no ministers are expected to attend and no officials".
"I do not think that sporting boycotts are sensible and that remains the policy of the government," he said, indicating British athletes would still compete.
To which a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said China had not invited British officials to the Winter Olympics.
"Making an issue out of the presence of government officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics is, in essence, a political smearing campaign," he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also said that their country will also boycott the Olympics which will be held in Beijing. He said that its decision came in the wake of Australia's struggles to reopen diplomatic channels with China to discuss alleged human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang and Beijing's moves against Australian imports.
Morrison said Beijing had not responded to several issues raised by Australia. However, China has denied any wrongdoing in Xinjiang, saying the allegations were fabricated.
China's Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Australian politicians were engaged in "political posturing". "Whether they come or not, nobody cares," he said.
The United States was the first to announce a boycott, saying on Monday its government officials would not attend the Feb. 4-20 Games because of China's human rights "atrocities" in the western region of Xinjiang.
On Thursday, China said that it is not worried about a "domino effect" of diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
"I don't see any need to be worried about any domino effect," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
He said, "On the contrary, most countries in the world have expressed support for the Beijing Winter Olympics."
"Quite a few" foreign leaders and members of royal families had registered to attend, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the only leader of a major country who has publicly accepted an invitation.
Wang said that China had no plans to invite officials from Britain and Canada to the Games anyway, and that their absence would have no impact on the success of the Games.
Wang also said the United States and its allies would "pay the price for their mistaken acts" and they had "used the Olympics platform for political manipulation".
Image Credit: AFP
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