Canada joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday, with China calling the boycotts “political posturing” and a smear campaign.
The United States was the first to announce the boycott this week, saying on Monday its government officials would not attend February’s Beijing Olympics because of China’s human rights “atrocities”, weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world’s two largest economies.
China on Tuesday said the United States would “pay a price” for its decision and warned of countermeasures but gave no details. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sought to play down the growing diplomatic boycott.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Beijing would be aware of long-standing Western concerns about human rights in China. “(So) it shouldn’t be a surprise that we decided not to send diplomatic representation.”
Trudeau’s decision seems sure to add tension to a relationship already strained over the detention of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada accused Trudeau of making false claims.
“Based on ideological biases as well as lies and rumors, Canada and a handful of western countries have been flagrantly engaged in political maneuvering, with the attempt to disrupt the smooth progress of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their clumsy performance can hardly find any support and is doomed to fail,” the spokesperson said in a written statement.
IOC President Thomas Bach said the Committee had always been concerned with the participation of the athletes in the Olympic Games.
So “we welcome the support for their Olympic teams all these governments have been emphasising,” he told a video news conference. “This is giving the athletes certainty and this is what the IOC is about.”
The chairman of the athletes’ committee of Beijing 2022 said the Games were a stage for athletes, not a runway for politics, according to the Xinhua news agency.
“The politicisation of sport and the use of the Olympic Games as a vehicle for political purposes by individual politicians would undoubtedly breach (the) Olympic Charter,” said Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympics gold medalist.
