Australia follows suit, joins US in diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 over human rights concerns

Last updated on December 13th, 2021 at 09:00 am

China – Australia is also joining the suit after United States in boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 over human rights concerns by no participation by Australian officials. The announcement was made by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The decision of diplomatic boycott of Games next year by Australia and US has attracted China’s allegations of “political posturing”.

As the relations between China and Australia continue to deteriorate, the reaction by Beijing is “not surprising”, said Morrison. “Australian athletes will, though,” he said on Wednesday. “Australia’s a great sporting nation and I very much separate the issues of sport and these other political issues.”

Morrison confirmed the diplomatic boycott of Beijing Games next year over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, a concern continuously raised by Australia. Reacting to the decision, Chinese embassy in Canberra has accused Australia of “political posturing” and said that officials were anyways not invited to the Games, only athletes are. “Australia’s success at the Beijing Winter Olympics depends on the performance of Australian athletes, not on the attendance of Australian officials, and the political posturing by some Australian politicians,” the embassy said on Wednesday. No comment was made on the issue of human rights raised by US and Australia as the reason of diplomatic boycott.

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Prime Minister Morrison has stressed that Australia is always open to have a dialogue with China to mend their relations “whether it’s their concerns with our foreign interference legislation or foreign investment rules”. But he reiterated that the country would always continue to pursue policies in interest of the nation. “I am very … happy to talk to the Chinese government about these issues, and there has been no obstacle to that occurring on our side but the Chinese government has consistently not taken those opportunities to meet with us about those issues,” he said. Human rights activists have been consistently calling out Chinese authorities and advocating boycott of the Games over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, along with political crackdown by Beijing in Hong Kong.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said in the past that awarding a country to host the Games does not mean it “endorsed their human rights standards”. But the human rights activists argue that granting the high-profile event to China awarded the actions of Communist Party a legitimacy.