United Kingdom, Australia and Canada join Winter Games in China over US diplomatic boycott | International

Australia, UK and Canada join the US in boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison; British, Boris Johnson and Canadian Justin Trudeau announced their decision yesterday. Other allies are considering joining the US initiative to oppose Monday’s definition of China’s “atrocities” on human rights.

A few hours later, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined in: “The Winter Olympics in Beijing will be a diplomatic boycott. No minister or public official will take part in these games,” Johnson told the House of Commons. It responded to a direct question from spokesman Ian Duncan-Smith: “However, I do not believe the boycott of the game is justified.” Increasing the oppression of Xi Jinping Uighur and other minorities in the Xinjiang region It has forced US President Joe Biden to take some action, promising to make human rights a pillar of its foreign policy.

Australian President Morrison justified the decision by pointing out the lack of answers to various questions raised on two issues: Beijing’s alleged human rights abuses in western China, home to the Muslim Uyghur minority. And trade sanctions adopted by Beijing to the detriment of Australian imports. “It is not surprising that Australian ambassadors did not travel to China to attend the Games,” the head of state told reporters in Sydney.

According to Reuters, Trudeau, for his part, explained to reporters that they had made that decision because of “repeated human rights abuses by the Chinese government.”

China has already responded to the Australian administration’s announcement Anger has done in a low tone One he used after learning that the United States would boycott the game. The US announcement warned Beijing that Washington would be “paid a price” and threatened to retaliate, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenpin responding to Australia’s decision by saying: “Yes they did or not, no one cares.” The spokesman also noted that Australian politicians were engaging in “political posture”. “Australia’s decision not to send political representatives to the Games shows that Australia is blindly following what others are doing. They can’t tell right from wrong, “Wenpin told a news conference.

“The Chinese government has not invited any British government ministers or officials to the Games,” a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London told Reuters.

China has repeatedly denied allegations of abuse in the Xinjiang region and defined the allegations against it as “myths”. The Biden administration believes Chinese authorities are guilty of genocide against the Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

Relations between Australia and China, its main trading partner, are in crisis following the Canberra embargo. 5G Broadband Network of Chinese multinational Huawei Technologies. Canberra’s calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 have angered Chinese authorities, which have responded by imposing tariffs on imports of Australian products such as barley, beef, charcoal and wine.

The boycott announced by the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom only applies to diplomatic representatives because these three national athletes will compete in the Games. The Australian Olympic Committee has already indicated that this decision will have no impact on its athletes’ preparations for the event. The agency points out that “diplomatic decisions” are a matter for governments.

Germany, for its part, has left in the air whether its government will join the diplomatic boycott – Russia – and its president, Vladimir Putin, has been invited to attend the Games’ opening ceremony – calling on them not to get involved in sports and politics. .

According to government sources cited by the newspaper, Japan is also exploring the possibility of not sending its cabinet members to the Games. Sankei Shimbun. New Zealand announced on Tuesday that it would not send diplomatic representation to the Games, although the result justified its decision for health safety reasons. Govt-19 Infection.

Winter sports They start about six months after the summer, which was held a year late in Tokyo due to the Govt-19 epidemic. Juan Antonio Samaranch, who leads the coordinating committee of the International Olympic Committee for the Beijing event, said, “We always ask for the greatest possible respect and minimal intervention from the political world. We respect the decisions of political organizations.”

The US diplomatic boycott, which has been promoted for months by some members of the country’s Congress and human rights groups, was crystallized in a video conference between the president last month despite efforts to improve relations between the two countries. Xi. The United States plans to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, and prepares to bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bonnie Glaser, a Chinese expert on the think tank of the U.S. German Marshall Fund, warned at a congressional hearing that it would undermine the message that China’s human rights abuses would not be acceptable if other countries did not join the boycott. . “The only way we have is to try to get them to join us in this alliance,” the expert said.

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