Scott Morrison announced that Australia would join the US diplomatic boycott of Beijing’s winter Olympics.
The United States declared Monday that it will not allow its government officials to attend the Games of February due to China’s human rights violations.
China warned that the US would ‘pay the cost’ for their decision, and China threatened’resolute countermeasures’ to take action.
Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister (center), confirmed that Australia would boycott the Olympics.
Australia has confirmed that it will boycott the games on Wednesday, as Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, stated. Officials will not be present but Australian athletes will compete.
Up to one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to be held in camps in China’s far-west region of Xinjiang, according to the United Nations.
China claims they are valid prisoners, but the West is concerned that they may be unfairly held because they are Muslims.
Morrison announced that Australia is joining the boycott. He said China refused to discuss Xinjiang human rights abuses and other important issues Australia has raised repeatedly.
‘So it is not surprising, therefore, that Australian government officials would, therefore, not be going to China for those Games. He said that Australian athletes would, however.
It is surrounded by a perimeter fence that serves as a barrier around the centre, officially called Dabancheng vocational skills education center. Muslims being held without their consent, activists say
When asked if he was worried about China’s reaction to the decision, Morrison replied: “That would absolutely be unacceptable. There would be no basis for it whatsoever.”
“I will always defend Australia’s interests, what Australians think is right, and that we live in uncertain times.
Morrison claimed that the Olympics would remain a spectacular sporting event.
Zhao Lijian, a Chinese spokesperson for the foreign ministry said Monday in Beijing that his country opposed the US diplomatic boycott. He promised to take’resolute anti-American measures’ as a response.
Without giving any details, he stated that the United States would be paying a steep price for its mistakes. “Let’s just wait and see.”
The United States has been invited to Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics and will also host the 30th Winter Olympics.
Photo: The National Ski Jumping Centre is a location for the Winter Olympics at Beijing
Zhao responded that the US boycott of the Olympic Games has “damaged the foundation” and “atmosphere of sport exchange and cooperation. This he compared to the act of ‘lifting one’s foot to crush another’.
He appealed to the United States not to allow politics into sports.
On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee stated that it respects the decision of America.
Juan Antonio Samaranch (IOC coordination committee chief for Beijing Olympics) stated that he always requests respect and the least interference from the political world.
“We need to reciprocate.” We are open to the decisions made by political bodies.
There was a diplomatic boycott by the United States, which some US Congress members and rights groups encouraged. This happened despite efforts to stabilize ties between two of the largest economies in the world, including Xi Jinping and Biden meeting via video last month.
China threatened’resolute countermeasures” in response to the boycott of Beijing Olympics. Pictured by President Xi Jinping
This also happens amid increasing diplomatic tensions between Australia, China.
China was critical of AUKUS, the US-UK alliance and the decision by the Government to buy nuclear-powered submarines.
Relations soured dramatically in April 2020 when Mr Morrison infuriated Australia’s largest trading partner by calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus which was identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
China has imposed a 20% tariff on Australian wine, despite both countries having signed a free trade agreement in 2015.
Beijing had imposed an 80 per cent tariff upon Australian barley and banned beef imports earlier in the year. Students and tourists were also told not to travel Down Under.
Although the Government tried calling Chinese counterparts, the Chinese did not pick up the telephone.
Detention centers in Xinjiang were first established in 2014. They appeared shortly after the launch of a new’strike-hard’ campaign against terrorism in response to violence in the region.
China claims that people go to the camps in their own free will and describes them as such As ‘professional vocational schools’ that are used to combat terrorism and improve employment opportunities for minor offenses.
Uighur activists claim that people are held against their wills and mistreated within.
There are 12,000,000 Muslims living in Xinjiang. As many as one-million people have been detained.
In 2019, unverified drone footage showed Muslim prisoners being blindfolded and led out of trains while their heads were shaved, with eyes closed, hands tied, and hair covered. Beijing stated that it was normal for prisoners to be transferred from trains.
Dozens of students at their desks learning Chinese and law in a programme that introduced the ‘professional vocational training institutions’ in Hotan, Xinjiang