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Australia, NZ join US in diplomatic boycott of Beijing Games

The UK is considering it, too; France says there will be an EU-level response

OLYMPICS-2022/BIDEN The athletes' village of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China | Reuters

Australia and New Zealand are the latest countries to join the US in the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns. The move has not gone down well with the Chinese.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Australian athletes would compete, but that there would be no officials from the country at the mega sporting event.

Morrison said that the boycott was no surprise considering Australia's and China's relationship has broken down in the last few years.

As well as citing human rights abuses, Morrison said China had been very critical of Australia's efforts to have a strong defence force in the region, particularly in relation, most recently, to its decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Rights groups have pushed for a full-blown boycott of the games, accusing China of rights abuses against ethnic minorities. The U.S. and Australian decisions fall short of those calls but come at an exceptionally turbulent time for international relations and have been met with a barrage of criticism from China.

The Chinese embassy in Canberra accused Australian politicians of “political posturing” and even suggested that the diplomatic representatives were not invited to the Games anyway.

“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,” said the embassy in a statement.

After the US announced the diplomatic boycott on Tuesday, it was closely followed by New Zealand announcing the same. The New Zealand government had said that it would not send diplomatic representatives to the Olympics for “a range of factors but mostly due to Covid”.

The UK is also considering a similar boycott while France has released a statement saying that, having taken note of US's boycott, there would be a coordinated response at the European Union level on the issue soon.

The International Olympic Committee said that it respects countries' decision to diplomatically boycott the upcoming Olympics, stating that it expects “least possible interference from the political world”.

- With inputs from PTI

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