Australia has announced that it will join the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, and other allies have weighed similar moves to protest China’s human rights record
Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, made the revelation on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, stating that the decision came as a result of China’s denial to discuss allegations of human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang, and Beijing’s moves against Australian imports, despite struggles to open diplomatic channels.
Morrison said Beijing had not responded to several issues raised at Canberra, the Australian capital, including the rights abuse accusations.
“So it is not surprising therefore that Australian government officials would not be going to China for those Games,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Recall that the United States had earlier announced that its government officials will boycott February’s Beijing Olympics due to China’s human rights “atrocities”, just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.
China said the United States would “pay the price” for its decision and warned of countermeasures in response, but gave no details.
A spokesperson of China’s embassy in Canberra, in an online statement blamed the “current predicament of China-Australia relations” on some Australian politicians, whom he said were engaged in political posturing.
The Australian Olympic Committee however gave the assurance that the boycott would have no impact on athletes’ preparations for the Games, adding that “diplomatic options” were a matter for governments.
Other U.S. allies have been slow to commit to joining the boycott
