TOPLINE Australia will not send any officials to next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, joining the U.S. in a diplomatic boycott and potentially opening the door for other allied countries to follow the two nations in a coordinated action against China for its well-documented human rights .
Australia will stage a diplomatic boycott of the games, sending only competing athletes, due to “human rights abuses in Xinjiang” and “many other issues” with the Chinese government, Australia Prime Minister Scott Cameron told reporters Wednesday morning local time.
Cameron said Australia’s decision should come as “no surprise” as it matches the government’s prior actions against China.
The country’s reasoning closely mirrors that of the U.S., which announced its own diplomatic boycott Monday and cited its primary reason for its protest as the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses” committed by the Chinese government, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
Xinjiang is the name of the region in western China where there is “clear and convincing” evidence that the Chinese government is committing genocide against Muslim Uyghurs, D.C.-based think tank Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy said earlier this year.
SOURCE : Forbes
