The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has confirmed Australian officials will not attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, joining the United States in a diplomatic boycott of next year\u2019s Games and prompting accusations from Beijing of political posturing.<\/p>\n
Morrison told reporters in Sydney it was \u201cnot surprising\u201d, given the deterioration in the diplomatic relationship between Australia and China, that officials would not attend next year\u2019s winter Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian athletes will, though,\u201d he said on Wednesday. \u201cAustralia\u2019s a great sporting nation and I very much separate the issues of sport and these other political issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrison said he would like to see longstanding tensions between Australia and China resolved, but his government did not intend to \u201cstep back from the strong position we had standing up for Australia\u2019s interest\u201d.<\/p>\n
Confirming the diplomatic boycott, Morrison raised human rights abuses in Xinjiang as one of the factors Australia had \u201cconsistently raised\u201d. He said the Chinese government had not made itself available to talk through Australia\u2019s concerns about human rights.<\/p>\n
The Chinese embassy in Canberra accused Australian politicians of \u201cpolitical posturing\u201d and suggested \u2013 as it did in response to the US boycott \u2013 that the diplomatic representatives weren\u2019t necessarily invited anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia\u2019s 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,\u201d the embassy said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It did not mention human rights or other issues raised by those proposing boycotts, instead calling on Australia to take \u201cpractical measures\u201d to improve bilateral relations, saying all blame for the \u201ccurrent predicament\u201d lay squarely with Australia.<\/p>\n
The prime minister was earlier asked whether he expected any retaliation from China in response. Morrison said any reprisals would be \u201ccompletely and utterly unacceptable and there would be no grounds for that whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n
Australia remained open to dialogue with China \u201cwhether it\u2019s their concerns with our foreign interference legislation or foreign investment rules\u201d. But he repeated that Australia would continue to pursue policies in the national interest.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand government said on Tuesday it would not send diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level to the Winter Olympics, citing \u201ca range of factors but mostly to do with Covid\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration has also confirmed that the US will pursue a diplomatic boycott. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, cited China\u2019s \u201congoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses\u201d.<\/p>\n
That decision drew a furious reaction from the Chinese government, which flatly denies crimes against humanity or any wrongdoing in Xinjiang, and accused Washington of \u201cposturing and political manipulation\u201d. Senior officials sought to dismiss the boycott by saying the US representatives hadn\u2019t been invited anyway, but state media also reported Beijing had made \u201cstern representations\u201d to the US.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, had warned of unspecified \u201ccountermeasures\u201d. Asked to elaborate at a regular press conference on Tuesday Zhao said only that the US would \u201cpay a price for its erroneous actions\u201d and observers \u201cmay wait and see\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday Labor\u2019s foreign affairs spokesperson, Penny Wong, and sports spokesman Don Farrell, said the opposition party supported the decision, as Labor held \u201cdeep concerns\u201d about ongoing rights abuses in China and about athlete safety given the circumstances around tennis player Peng Shuai, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision, alongside other countries\u2019 diplomatic boycotts, sends a strong signal that these are not the behaviours of a responsible global power,\u201d they said, adding that it was \u201cappropriate\u201d athletes were not being asked to make the sacrifice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur athletes have trained hard for years towards this opportunity and didn\u2019t choose where the Winter Olympics are being held.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Olympic Committee responded to Morrison\u2019s announcement, saying it respected \u201cthe fact that diplomatic options are a matter for government and that politics and sport should be separated\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Australian athletes have been training and competing with this Olympic dream for four years now and we are doing everything in our power to ensure we can help them succeed,\u201d said the committee\u2019s chief executive, Matt Carroll.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuman rights are extremely important, but the considered view of diplomats is that keeping channels of communication open is far more impactful than shutting them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Human Rights Watch\u2019s China director, Sophie Richardson said the boycott was a crucial step in challenging Beijing\u2019s crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia should now redouble efforts with likeminded governments to investigate and map out pathways to accountability for those responsible for these crimes and justice for the survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The diplomatic boycotts of the Olympics come amid broader calls for government and commercial boycotts of the Games over the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses, while the Women\u2019s Tennis Association has taken the unprecedented step of cancelling all 2022 tournaments in China over its concerns for the wellbeing of the tennis player Peng Shuai. Peng was not seen for more than two weeks after she accused a senior Chinese official of sexually assaulting her.<\/p>\n
The International Olympic Committee, which had faced scrutiny over its stated preference for \u201cquiet diplomacy\u201d in response to the case of Peng, said on Tuesday it respected the US\u2019s boycott decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has confirmed Australian officials will not attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, joining the United States in a diplomatic boycott of next year\u2019s Games and prompting accusations from Beijing of political posturing. Morrison told reporters in Sydney it was \u201cnot surprising\u201d, given the deterioration in the diplomatic relationship between Australia and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[423,882,1212,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-231696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-beijing-olympics","10":"tag-boycott","11":"tag-china"},"yoast_head":"\n