However, British athletes will attend the meeting, which begins on February 4, he said, stressing that the United Kingdom “does not support sports boycotts.” However, none of his ministers plan to attend, he stressed.
There are many sources of tension between London and Beijing, from the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region – cradle of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the north-west of the country-, the decline in freedoms in the former British colony of Hong Kong and the exclusion of the Chinese giant Huawei from the British 5G telecommunications network. Before the deputies, Johnson assured that he regularly raises the question of human rights before representatives of the Chinese government, at the center of the decision of Western countries.
Beijing did not immediately react to the British announcement, but had expressed anger at the American decision and contempt when Australian authorities subsequently joined in.
The Australian government joined the initiative two days after Washington, citing the series of disagreements they have with Beijing and the human rights situation in the communist country.
“Australia will not deviate from a strong position in defense of Australia’s interests, and it is obviously no surprise that we will not send Australian representatives to these Games,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Asked during a press conference, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, assured that his country had never intended to invite Australian authorities.
“Nobody cares whether they come or not,” he said. “His political maneuvers and his little tricks will not change anything to the success of the Olympic Games,” he added.
Military alliance
Australia, like the United Kingdom, seeks to legislate against foreign influence to veto Huawei from 5G contracts and has called for an independent investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic.
In addition, it recently signed a major military alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom that will provide it with US nuclear powered submarines.
As in the British case, the diplomatic boycott does not prevent the participation of American or Australian athletes.
Hours after the UK and Australia did, Canada also joined the “diplomatic boycott.”
“We are deeply concerned about the human rights violations by the Chinese government,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press conference in which he announced that his country was joining the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games.
The measure will not prevent Canadian athletes from participating in the Games, which will begin on February 4, but will mean that no government representative travels to China, the president stressed. “It is important to partner with allies in the world when you have an approach against China ”, stressed Trudeau.
Relations between Canada and China had moments of tension and both countries have just emerged from an unprecedented diplomatic crisis related to the arrest in December 2018 of the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. The Chinese authorities responded to this situation with retaliatory measures.
Still, the US decision sparked outrage in Beijing. “The United States will pay the price for its tricks,” said China’s diplomatic spokesman, Zhao Lijian.
The director of Human Rights Watch in China, Sophie Richardson, celebrated the diplomatic boycott, calling it “a crucial step in challenging the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity against Uighurs and other Turkic communities.”
Activists say that at least one million Uighurs and other Muslim minority people have been imprisoned in camps in Xinjiang, where Beijing is also accused of imposing labor and forced sterilizations.
For his part, Zhao Lijian dismissed Western accusations about the situation in Xinjiang as the “lie of the century.”
Meanwhile, the Australian Olympic Committee assured that its priority is to ensure a “safe trip to China due to the complexity of the covid” and a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Australia noted that athletes from that country will be welcomed to the Games, wishing them a “Excellent performance.”
“Australia’s success at the Beijing Winter Olympics depends on the performance of its athletes, not on the attendance of the Australian representatives,” he added.
The Government of China, for its part, regretted the positions adopted by several Western governments, which mainly affect the reduction of rights and freedoms in the Asian giant and cases such as those in Xinjiang, where the United States considers that a genocide is being committed against the Uighur population.
On the European level, only Lithuania has taken the step, while other EU governments such as the French or the German have advocated for coordination. Italy has the most difficult role, as it will host the next Winter Olympics, scheduled for 2026.
Source From: Ambito
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