Canada and UK join boycott of China Winter Games
England announced this wednesday (8) that it will join the United States, Canada and Australia in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games in China, which will take place in 2022.
The White House announced last Monday that US officials will not attend the event, despite not prohibiting athletes from the delegation from participating. The motivation is the numerous violations of international human rights treaties caused by the government in Beijing, which the government classified as "atrocities".
“There will effectively be a boycott of the Beijing Games. No minister or official is expected to attend,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“I don't think sporting boycotts are sensible, and that remains the government's policy,” added the prime minister.
Reuters news agency reported that China had not issued any invitations to British ministers.
“The Beijing Winter Olympics is a gathering of Olympic athletes and winter sports lovers from around the world, not a tool of political manipulation for any country,” reported a Chinese diplomatic representative.
The announcement that Canada would also join the boycott was also made today by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Many partners around the world are extremely concerned about the repeated human rights violations committed by the Chinese government. For that reason, we announced today that we will not send any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympics,” the Canadian prime minister said at a news conference.
with information from Reuters
article updated at 7h04 pm to add information
Text translated using artificial intelligence.
