Winter Olympics: China is all set to host the upcoming Winter Olympics in February 2022. There were speculations about postponing this event amid the outbreak of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron. Earlier, the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held earlier this year. However, International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed that the event will take place as per the schedule. Meanwhile, a few countries like USA, Britain, Australia and Canada are following a Diplomatic Boycott for this event. This means the players will be sent to play the games but no officials will be attending the tournament.
Winter Olympics
The USA was the first country to announce the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics. It stated that none of its officers will attend the event due to China’s human rights atrocities. China counterattacked the United States by saying that it will ‘pay the price’ for this decision. However, China didn’t expect the other nations to follow the same route.
Canada also decided not to send its officials to the Winter Olympics, stating the same reason given by America. Now, Britain and Australia joined the list. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated, “There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, no ministers are expected to attend and no officials.”
“I do not think that sporting boycotts are sensible and that remains the policy of the government,” he further added.
The Australian government decided to go for a diplomatic boycott due to the human rights abuses by the hosting nation. It has to be seen how many other nations will join this list.