Canada has also joined the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics

Canada will join the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights abuses by the Chinese regime.As announced Wednesday by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

We are deeply concerned about the human rights violations of the Chinese government. (…) That is why we announced today that we will not send any diplomatic representation to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing this winter,” the Canadian president said at a press conference.

Then came the announcement The White House, the Australian government and the British government will confirm a diplomatic boycott of the Games in FebruaryAs a sign of protest against China’s human rights violations. The Asian giant, meanwhile, He promised to respond with “strong countermeasures.”

Trudeau said his government has held talks with its allies about this in recent months.

In either case, the diplomatic boycott does not affect sports competitions or prevent the participation of British, American, Australian or Canadian athletes.

Human rights groups have called for a complete boycott of the Beijing Winter Games, citing human rights abuses committed by the Chinese regime against the Uighur minority in the northwestern Xinjiang province., which some have described Genocide. They also point to Beijing’s crackdown on democratic protests in Hong Kong and the intensified crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous territory.

The White House on Monday confirmed it was organizing a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Games, and Australia followed suit on Wednesday, with the prime minister. Scott Morrison It said it was “in the national interest of Australia”.

“As I said before, we do not support a sports boycott, but there are no plans (…) for ministers to attend the Winter Olympics,” He emphasized, for his part, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in front of Parliament.

“The government does not hesitate to raise these issues with China, as it did with President Xi the last time I spoke to him,” he added, referring to human rights abuses committed by the Xi Jinping regime.

Relations between Canada and China have been poor since Xi Jinping’s regime arrested two Canadians in China in December 2018., shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies and daughter of the company’s founder, on the basis of an extradition request from the United States.

Many countries have described China’s behavior as a “hostage policy.”While Beijing described the accusations against Huawei and Meng as a politically motivated attempt to curb the economic and technological development of the Asian giant.

China, the United States and Canada essentially completed a high-risk prisoner exchange earlier this year.But the Chinese government’s reputation has been severely tarnished in Canada.

“No one cares whether they will come or not,” a Chinese diplomatic spokesman said on Wednesday. Wang WenbinIn response to the Canberra Declaration. “His political maneuvers and little tricks will not change anything for the success of the Olympic Games,” he added.

Chinese diplomatic spokesperson, Zhao LijianThe United States was accused of violating the principle of political neutrality in sports. “The United States’ attempt to interfere in the Winter Olympics due to its ideological bias based on lies and rumours, only reveals its malicious intentions,” the spokesperson said.

‘The United States will pay for its bad past’As he claimed. When asked about China’s response, he replied, “Keep in touch,” again describing Western accusations about the situation in Xinjiang as “the lie of the century.”

Due to China’s entry restrictions for foreigners in order to combat COVID-19, Few world leaders are expected to travel to Beijing except for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who accepted an invitation from his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

With information from AP and AFP

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