China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday dismissed reports that Australia prepares to stage a “diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February as “political posturing” by revealing “China hasn’t invited any Australian government authorities” to go to the Games and adding “no one would care whether they come or not.”
“China hasn’t invited any Australian federal government official to go to the Beijing Winter Olympics. In truth, no one would care whether they come or not, and Australian political leaders’ political stunt for self-centered gains has no effect whatsoever on the Olympics to be successfully held by Beijing,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Representative Wang Wenbin told Xinhua, China’s official state-run press firm, at a routine press instruction December 8.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin takes a question at the Foreign Ministry rundown in Beijing on November 9, 2020. (Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP by means of Getty Images)
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed on December 8, “Australian government authorities would not be going to China for those Games.” He described the 2022 Winter Olympics, which are scheduled to occur in Beijing from February 4 through February 20.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison gestures throughout an interview at Parliament Home in Canberra, Australia, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image by means of AP)
Canberra’s discovery came one day after the U.S. federal government revealed a so-called “diplomatic boycott” of the Games pointing out the Chinese Communist Celebration (CCP)’s human rights infractions, including the current genocide of ethnic Uyghurs– a mostly Turkic-speaking, Sunni Muslim group– in China’s westernmost region of Xinjiang. Australia’s federal government on Wednesday likewise pointed out the CCP’s human rights offenses as one of numerous factors it picked to “boycott” the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Diplomats and political figures do not traditionally complete in the Olympics Games, so their absence does not in any method interfere with the sports competitions– essentially making it difficult for them to “boycott” the event.
Chinese political leader Liu Xiaoming– who acted as Beijing’s longest-serving ambassador to the UK (U.K.) from 2010 to 2021– reacted to Washington’s statement of an Olympic boycott on Monday by exposing that U.S. federal government authorities, like those of Australia, were not welcomed to the 2022 Winter Olympics. “The Winter Season Olympic Games is not a phase for political posturing and adjustment, “the newly retired ambassador wrote in a Twitter statement published December 6.”US political leaders keep hyping a’ diplomatic boycott’without even being welcomed to the Games. This wishful thinking and pure grandstanding is aimed at political control,”Liu wrote. The federal governments of Canada and the U.K. followed Australia on December 8 in announcing their own”diplomatic boycotts”of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. formed a new security pact in September called AUKUS. The military bloc seeks to discourage China’s growing existence and impact in the Indo-Pacific area. Trade and political stress in between Canberra and Beijing have actually increased in recent months. Prime Minister Morrison on Wednesday pointed out these concerns as a few of the reasons behind Australia’s so-called”diplomatic boycott”of the 2022 Winter season Olympics.”We have actually been raising a variety of problems that have not been gotten well in China,”Morrison informed press reporters December 8.”There’s been a difference in between us on those matters,”he acknowledged.”We have actually constantly been open to meet with the Chinese government to speak about their issues, whether it’s their worry about our foreign interference legislation or other foreign financial investment guidelines where Australia takes a very strong stance standing up for Australia’s interests,”Morrison said.”They [China] have actually been extremely vital of Australia in our efforts to ensure that we have a strong nationwide defense force, especially in relation, most recently, to our choice to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, “the president kept in mind.