Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, confirmed that his country will not send any government officials to Beijing next year’s Winter Olympics, China, in line with the United States.
Morrison claimed Wednesday that it will “come as no surprise that Australia will not be sending any official representatives to the fomassnews.coming Winter Games in China,”Citing an alleged “human rights abuses in Xinjiang and many other issues that Australia has consistently raised.”
“We have been very pleased and very happy to talk to the Chinese Government about these issues and there’s been no obstacle to that occurring on our side,”He said so. “But the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about these issues.”
But, the prime minister insisted that even though Australian officials were welcome to attend, “therefore not be going to China”Australian athletes will still be eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.
Morrison’s government follows in the footsteps of US President Joe Biden, whose administration also announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics on Monday.
Jen Psaki (White House Press Secretary) told reporters that there would not be any US representative at the Beijing games. “given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”
“US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can’t do that,” Psaki declared.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, called this move “pretentious,” “a political manipulation,”And “a grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter,” adding, “No invitation has been extended to US politicians whatsoever, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ simply comes out of nowhere.”
“In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be successfully held,”Continued the spokesperson
Hua Chunying (Chinese Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) made similar remarks statementTwittering, emphasizing the fact that US officials weren’t invited, “One can’t decline an invitation without first receiving one.”
China Daily EU Bureau Chief Chen Weihua jokedHe posted on social media that, even though he was not invited to the White House New Year’s Eve party, he had decided to boycott it.
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