Amit a bitter trade war between Australia and China, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that his country will boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over ‘human rights abuses’ in China.
The 24th Winter Olympics will take place from February 4 to 20 next year in Beijing in China under the shadow of Covid 19 pandemics. Now the threat of diplomatic boycotts is also looming large.
Besides, USA and Australia, many other countries are considering boycotting and limited representation at the Winter Olympics on the issue of human rights violations and others.
The China-Australia relations collapsed last year and Morrison said the decision of Australia was not surprising. He said that human rights abuses in Xinjiang as one of the factors of the diplomatic boycott.
A spokesperson from China’s embassy in Canberra has retorted saying that some Australian politicians were engaged in political posturing.
Diplomatic boycott rattles China
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa reacted to China facing isolation. “The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics are about athletic excellence and global unity. Stop using it as a platform for grandstanding and division,” it said.
Netizens questioned the track record of China over human rights violations and asked “1 million Uyghurs detained, Peng Shuai locked up, Hong Kong dissidents punished, Tibetans tortured. . . . you call this “grandstanding”?
Recently, the USA had announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics alleging China of committing genocide of the Uyghur minority.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki had said American players would continue to compete, but “we will not be contributing to the fanfare of the games. US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual.”
China warned the USA would have to “pay the price for its wrongdoing”. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the USA of interfering with the Beijing Winter Olympics out of ideological prejudice. China accused the USA of spreading lies and rumours about China out of sinister intentions.
Denying any human rights atrocities China said that the Winter Olympics was not a stage for political shows and political manipulation and USA was trying to undermine the Beijing Winter Olympics.
China threatened to respond to the USA with unspecific firm countermeasures. Chen Weihua who is a prominent columnist of China Daily said: “Mr Biden would live long enough to see China boycott the Summer Olympics to be held in Los Angeles in 2028.”
The threat of diplomatic boycott looming large over Winter Olympics
Other nations have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing too.
The New Zealand government has decided not to send diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level to the Winter Olympics, citing a range of factors but mostly to do with Covid-19. But New Zealand said that on several occasions, the country expressed its concerns to China about human rights issues.
Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, Grant Robertson, said that in October New Zealand had made it clear to China that it would not send diplomatic representatives. However, there was no suggestion whether New Zealand athletes will compete at the games.
Britain is considering approving limited government attendance at the Winter Olympics which is seen as a token of the diplomatic boycott. The UK government in November had stated having no plan for its ministers to attend Winter Olympics.
Lithuania, facing trade and diplomatic hostilities from China over its growing relationship with Taiwan, announced neither its president nor ministers would attend the Games.
Similarly, Japan is also considering not to send cabinet members to the Beijing Winter Olympics.