China blasts Australia over boycott of Beijing Olympics; calls it 'political posturing'

China has lashed out at Australia for following US suit in announcing a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. While Australian athletes will still be able to participate in the games slated to take place in February, the country’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison cited the “human rights abuses” in Xinjiang as the reason to not send its delegation to China. Australia’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics came after the United States on Monday was the first nation to declare that it would not send its delegation to China. 

Criticising the decision, the Chinese embassy in Canberra said, “As we all know, the blame for the current predicament of China-Australia relations lies squarely on the Australian side. China once again urges the Australian side to take practical measures to create favourable conditions for improving bilateral relations.”

“The Australian side's statement that it will not send officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics runs counter to its publicly pronounced expectation to improve China-Australia relations,” it added.

China’s mission in Canberra, however, wished the Australian athletes “excellent performance at the Winter Olympics” and noted that Australia’s success in the Games solely depends on the players and not on the attendance of the officials and the “political posturing by some Australian Politicians.” In a detailed statement, China noted, “Mountains can not stop the river from flowing into the sea.”

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian had dismissed the impact of Australia’s diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Winter Games 2022 and brandished it “posturing” for political gain. He said during a daily press briefing, “In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Olympics to be successfully held by Beijing.”

Australis cites ‘issues’ with China for the boycott

On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced at a news conference in Sydney that “human rights abuses and issues in Xinjiang" were some of the concerns that were flagged by his government with Beijing. He said, “I am very ... happy to talk to the Chinese government about these issues, and there has been no obstacle to that occurring on our side but the Chinese government has consistently not taken those opportunities to meet with us about those issues.” Earlier on Monday, White House secretary had said that US diplomatic boycott was a statement against China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”

(IMAGE: AP)