Australia, Great Britain join diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics | Athletes from those countries will take part in the tournament, but politicians will not go.

England and Australia will not send their political representatives to the Beijing Winter Olympics. This Wednesday the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, And his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, Announced to join For US diplomatic boycott China accuses him of violating human rights. Under no circumstances should diplomatic boycott affect sporting events or prevent the participation of British, American or Australian athletes.

“As I said before, we do not support boycotts, but … ministers have no plans to attend the Winter Olympics,” Johnson told the British Parliament. “There will be a diplomatic boycott,” the British prime minister insisted.

Earlier, the Australian government said it would join the boycott. Like Washington, so does Morrison Cited human rights abuses in China to justify its decision, especially in the Muslim-majority XinjiangIn northwestern China, Islamic separatist groups operate.

The reason

According to human rights activists and various governments, more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims and other Muslim minorities are being held in prisons or “re-education camps” in Xinjiang. Subjected to forced labor and contraception. China views such Western claims as “the lie of the century.”. Furthermore, Morrison noted the continuing disagreements his country maintains with the Asian giants.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Wang Wenpin “Nobody cares if (Australians) come or not,” he told a news conference. In addition, he assured that China would never invite Australian officials. “His political maneuvers and his little tricks will not change anything for the success of the Olympics,” he added. Wang broke away from mentioning the United States, saying Australia’s decision “shows in everyone’s that the Australian government is blindly following the policy of one country”.

Two days ago, Washington announced that it would not send diplomatic representatives – although it would send its own athletes – to describe the human rights violations committed by China. Presently, he said, “the US embassy will treat these games as if nothing had happened. Despite blatant human rights violations and China’s atrocities in Xinjiang, we can not do that.” Jen Saki, Spokesman for the President of the United States Joe Biden . “Team USA has our full support for the athletes. We will be 100% behind them when we encourage them from here,” he said.

China’s answer

This decision of the United States caused a great stir in Beijing. “The United States’ attempt to interfere in the Winter Olympics due to its ideological bias based on lies and rumors only reveals its malicious intentions,” he said. Zhao Legion, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, last Tuesday. “America will pay the price for its tactics.”

Like the United States, the Australian Olympic Committee has indicated that diplomatic boycott will not affect the performance of its athletes and that its priority is to ensure a “safe journey to China due to the complexity of the corona virus”. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Australia noted that athletes from that country would be welcomed to the Games and wished them “the best performance”.

Tensions with Australia

In the last two years, China has imposed a number of restrictions on the import of Australian goods Amid intense political controversy that has crippled ministerial ties between the two countries.

Australia, for its part, Chinese telephone company Huawei is seeking to legislate against foreign influence to veto it In 5G deals and, in line with Washington, calling for an independent inquiry into the origin of the corona virus infection.
In addition, the United States recently signed an important military alliance with the United Kingdom, which caused inconvenience to its former European ally after it terminated its agreement with France to supply US nuclear-powered submarines.