The U.S. introduced it might not ship any officers to Beijing earlier this week. Canada and the UK mentioned they might be part of the diplomatic boycott.
BEIJING, China — China on Thursday dismissed the choice by Canada and the UK to hitch Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Video games as a “farce.”
China can also be unconcerned the officers’ absence would spark a series response, whereas quite a few heads of state, authorities leaders and members of royal households have registered to attend, International Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin informed reporters at a day by day briefing.
The three international locations have mentioned they received’t ship authorities dignitaries to the Video games that run Feb. 4-20 to protest human rights abuses in China, whereas New Zealand mentioned it knowledgeable Beijing earlier that it wouldn’t be sending any officers on account of pandemic journey restrictions however had additionally communicated its human rights issues.
Below the diplomatic boycott, the international locations will nonetheless ship their athletes to compete.
Wang mentioned China had not prolonged invites to the U.S., Canada or the U.Okay. and that it “doesn’t matter if their officers come or not, they’ll see the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics.”
“Sports activities has nothing to do with politics,” Wang mentioned. “It’s they who’ve written, directed and carried out this farce.”
China isn’t solely assured there can be no chain response, however perceives overwhelming world help for the Video games, he mentioned.
“As of now, quite a few heads of state, leaders of presidency and royal members of the family have registered to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, and we welcome them,” Wang mentioned. “China is dedicated to creating better contributions to the worldwide Olympic trigger and can supply up a streamlined, protected and thrilling Olympics to the world.”
China has vowed to answer the U.S. with “agency countermeasures” over the boycott, however has given no particulars on the way it plans to retaliate.
Rights teams have referred to as for a complete boycott of the Beijing Winter Video games, citing Chinese language human rights abuses in opposition to its Uyghur minority within the northwest Xinjiang area, which some have referred to as genocide. In addition they level to Beijing’s suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kong and a sweeping crackdown on dissent within the semi-autonomous territory.
Canada’s transfer got here as little shock within the context of the sharp deterioration in bilateral ties since China arrested two Canadians in Dec. 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Applied sciences’ chief monetary officer and the daughter of the corporate’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request.
Canada and others condemned what they referred to as “hostage politics,” whereas China described the costs in opposition to Huawei and Meng as a politically motivated try to carry again China’s financial and technological improvement.
China, the U.S. and Canada accomplished what was primarily a high-stakes prisoner swap earlier this yr, however the Chinese language authorities’s fame has been severely tarnished in Canada.
