Canada, Australia, U.K. join U.S. in Olympic diplomatic boycott

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Canada, Australia, U.K. join U.S. in diplomatic boycott of Winter Olympics

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 12/8/21

Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have all joined the United States in deciding to not send diplomatic representation to Beijing for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Canada's decision, made public by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau via social media, comes days after the U.S. first announced it won't send diplomats to the Beijing Games in wake of reports of human rights abuses by the Chinese government.

Canada remains deeply disturbed by reports of human rights violations in China. As a result, we won’t be sending diplomatic representatives to Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We’ll continue to support our athletes who work hard to compete on the world stage.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 8, 2021

Australia's and the U.K.'s boycotts were also announced on Wednesday, with Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson respectively citing other factors that weighed into the decision not to send representation to the Olympics.

Australian PM Scott Morrison confirms Australia will impose a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics - a symbolic move given covid situ.
His language is a reminder that aside from the Uyghur repression, there are also two Australians languishing in Beijing prisons pic.twitter.com/sdQGz7odBW
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) December 7, 2021

#BREAKING: UK PM @BorisJohnson announces diplomatic boycott of #Beijing2022 Winter Olympics.

The PM confirms no UK Ministers or officials will attend the Games, in answer to #IPAC co-chair @MPIainDS.

adds to major victories for #IPAC #NoRightsNoShow campaign in . pic.twitter.com/GaiGSZyScK
— Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (@ipacglobal) December 8, 2021

The diplomatic boycott will not affect whether athletes from these nations compete in the Olympic Games.

As CNN summarized, the boycott stems from Beijing being accused — for some time now — of wrongfully imprisoning and torturing more than a million Uyghurs, a large Muslim population in Western China. Beijing denies the allegations, saying there are "camps" set up in the region to help irradicate Islamic terrorism.

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