Australia will join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, Scott Morrison confirms

The prime minister has confirmed that Australia will join the US in imposing a diplomatic boycott on the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Australian officials will not be attending the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed.

It follows the Biden administration confirming the US would impose a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Games earlier this week, with White House press secretary Jen Psaki citing the Chinese government’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” against minority Uighur Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.

Mr Morrison told reporters on Wednesday that Australian athletes will compete at the Games, but officials will not attend.

Mr Morrison said the decision was “not surprising” given diplomatic disagreements between the two countries. He said the Chinese government had not made itself available to discuss issues, such as human rights abuses in Xinjiang, that Australia had consistently raised.

“People have been very aware that we have been raising a number of issues that have not been received well in China,” he said.

“But the 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.

“But the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about these issues.”

The Chinese government has warned of further sanctions against countries which carry out a boycott of the Games.

Mr Morrison said such a move would be unacceptable, and that “there will be no grounds for that whatsoever”.

“I’ll always stand up for Australia’s interests and what Australians believe is right, and we are living in an uncertain time,” he said.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has welcomed the decision, saying it respects diplomatic options are a matter for government, and that politics and sport should be separated.

AOC chief executive Matt Carroll told reporters in Sydney that athletes, team officials, coaches and doctors will attend, along with vice president Ian Chesterman and president John Coates.

He said a diplomatic boycott is “up to the government and not a matter for us”.

“Our job at the AOC is to get the team safely together, safely to Beijing, [to] compete at the Games and do the best they possibly can,” he said.

The AOC expects to send about 40 athletes to Beijing. Mr Carroll said no athletes have so far expressed they won’t attend.

‘Malicious intention’

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, was asked about the US diplomatic boycott on Tuesday and said the “Winter Olympics is not a stage for political posturing and manipulation”.

“The US has been fabricating the biggest lie of the century about so-called genocide in Xinjiang, but it has long been debunked by facts,” he added.

“Based on its ideological biases as well as lies and rumours, the US attempts to interfere with the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will only expose its malicious intention and make it lose more moral principles and credibility.”

When asked about any potential Australian diplomatic boycott on Monday, Mr Lijian said: “We have said on multiple occasions that the Beijing Winter Olympics is a grand gathering of global winter sports athletes and fans, rather than a platform for certain politicians’ political stunts.”

Source: sbs.com.au