After the White House officially announced on December 6 that no US administration representatives will be present at the Beijing Winter Games 2022, paving the way for a mass diplomatic boycott not seen since the Cold War, even the prime minister Justin Trudeau announced that the Canada will implement a “diplomatic boycott” of the games, as already decided by UK and Australia who joined the States.
“We are deeply shocked by the Chinese government’s human rights violations”, declared the Canadian premier. The boycott is intended to send China a clear message on the front of the defense of human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. In fact, Beijing is accused of stifling the voice of opponents and of violating the freedoms of religious minorities such as that of Uighurs, persecuted and subjected to torture and violence. The latter is a situation that the White House has bluntly defined as “genocide”.
The response of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which has always rejected any intrusion into its internal affairs, had already arrived before the announcement of the White House, when rumors about an imminent decision were already circulating: “If the United States insists on going on our way we will certainly take resolute countermeasures.
The Winter Olympics cannot be the stage for a political provocation “, said the spokesman. Zaho Lijian: “It would be a serious stain on the spirit of the Olympic Charter and a serious offense for one and a half billion Chinese”. Although symbolic, therefore, the decision of the diplomatic boycott risks being the tombstone on the attempted thaw launched two weeks ago during the virtual summit between Biden and Xi Jinping, with the aim of restoring relations between the two economic superpowers and military on tracks that avoid a conflict.
The no to Beijing Olympics on the part of the USA, while safeguarding the participation of American athletes, would in fact add to the tensions linked to the Taiwan question. With the latter, unlike China, invited to the Conference for Democracy convened by Biden for the next few days. To tip the scales for the diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022 would have been the story of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, for three weeks disappeared from the public scene after having reported sexual harassment by a former senior Communist Party official.
A story that has shaken American public opinion. It matters little if Biden’s decision to desert Beijing 2022 is destined to create further friction with the International Olympic Committee, which is opposed to any form of boycott but in turn accused by Washington of being too compliant with the Chinese authorities. To return to situations of Olympic boycott we must go back to 1980, when Jimmy Carter’s administration led over 60 countries that did not participate in the Moscow Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In retaliation four years later fifteen countries together with the Soviet Union boycotted the Los Angeles Games.
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