Most countries will not join the boycott of the Winter Games, says IOC
Most of the governments of the 90 countries participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics (Beijing) have not opted to join a diplomatic boycott of the event, said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia are among the countries that recently announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games, which take place between February 4 and 20 in Beijing, because of China's human rights record, an attitude that the Chinese government qualified as “political posture”.
In the European Union, countries like France are seeking a common reaction from the bloc, but the bloc is divided over an endorsement of the diplomatic boycott, fearing Chinese retaliation that would harm trade.
"There are countries, like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, that have taken this decision," Bach told German broadcaster ZDF last Tuesday night.
“Several other countries, not just several, if we consider that 90 National Olympic Committees (NOC) will be present at the Games, there are probably more than 70 or even more than 80 NOCs whose governments have not made such announcements”, he declared.
“But they all have one thing in common, and that is that they support their Olympic teams [...] so that their athletes can live their Olympic dreams,” Bach said.
Human rights groups have long criticized the IOC for granting China the host of the Games for the second time, as human rights conditions have not improved after the 2008 Summer Olympics (Beijing).
Text translated using artificial intelligence.
