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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also said he does not expect British ministers and officials to attend the upcoming games.
Canada has entered the United States Australia Imposing a diplomatic boycott on the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, citing China’s human rights record.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada would not send an official delegation to the games to be held in the Chinese capital from February 4 to 20.
Trudeau said he did not believe the decision “would be a surprise for China.”
“We have been very clear in recent years about our deep concerns about human rights violations and this is a continuation of our statement. deep concerns for human rights violations, ”he said.
Trudeau added that Canadian athletes would take part in the Olympics.
The move follows similar decisions in Australia and the US, where the administration of President Joe Biden mentioned China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims in the western Xinjiang region as a reason for the boycott of the Olympics.
“U.S. diplomatic or official delegations would treat these games as usual … and we just can’t do that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier this week.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said on Wednesday that the Beijing Olympics would be an “effective diplomatic boycott”, but reiterated his opposition to the sports boycott, saying it did not make sense.
“No ministers or officials are expected to attend,” Johnson said in Parliament.
Diplomatic boycotts risk further straining relations between Western nations and China, he said on Wednesday he did not invite British ministers to the games.
“The Beijing Winter Olympics are a gathering of Olympic athletes and fans of winter sports around the world, not a tool for political manipulation in any country,” said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London.
“Making an issue with the presence of government officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics is basically a political dirty campaign,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, it looks like the boycott of the Canadian Olympics will worsen existing relations with China. The relationship deteriorated after the Chinese authorities in 2018 arrested Two Canadian businessmen accused of espionage.
Ottawa said the move was in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou According to the US extradition request, Beijing has rejected an indictment.
Meng, who spent three years under house arrest in Vancouver, reached an agreement with U.S. prosecutors and He returned to China at the end of September, and the Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were soon after release and return Canada.
But the Trudeau government continues to speak out against China’s history of rights.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Parliament also passed a non-binding resolution describing China has been accused of “genocide” by Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.
The United Nations and human rights groups believe that at least one million Uyghurs, mostly members of Muslim minorities, have been arrested.
China has denied abuses, saying its camps provide vocational training and are necessary to deal with extremism.
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