China dismisses UK, Canada Olympic boycott as ‘farce’

BEIJING (AP) — China connected Thursday dismissed the determination by Canada and the United Kingdom to articulation Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games arsenic a “farce.”

China is besides not acrophobic that the officials’ lack would spark a concatenation reaction, and galore heads of state, authorities leaders and members of royal families person registered to attend, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said astatine a regular briefing.

The 3 countries person said they won’t nonstop authorities dignitaries to the games, which tally Feb. 4-20, to protestation quality rights abuses successful China, portion New Zealand said it informed Beijing earlier that it wouldn’t beryllium sending immoderate officials owed to pandemic question restrictions but had besides communicated its quality rights concerns.

Under the diplomatic boycott, the countries volition inactive nonstop their athletes to compete.

Wang said China had not extended invitations to the U.S., Canada oregon the U.K. and that it “doesn’t substance if their officials travel oregon not, they volition spot the occurrence of the Beijing Winter Olympics.”

“Sports has thing to bash with politics,” Wang said. “It is they who person written, directed and performed this farce.”

China is assured determination volition beryllium nary concatenation reaction, and perceives overwhelming planetary enactment for the games, helium said.

“As of now, galore heads of state, leaders of authorities and royal household members person registered to be the Beijing Winter Olympics, and we invited them,” Wang said. “China is committed to making greater contributions to the planetary Olympic origin and volition connection up a streamlined, harmless and breathtaking Olympics to the world.”

China has vowed to respond to the U.S. with “firm countermeasures” implicit the boycott, but has fixed nary details connected however it plans to retaliate.

Rights groups person called for a full boycott of the Beijing Winter Games, citing Chinese quality rights abuses against its Uyghur number successful the northwest Xinjiang region, which immoderate person called genocide. They besides constituent to Beijing’s suppression of antiauthoritarian protests successful Hong Kong and a sweeping crackdown connected dissent successful the semi-autonomous territory.

Canada’s determination came arsenic small astonishment successful the discourse of the crisp deterioration successful bilateral ties since China arrested 2 Canadians successful December 2018, soon aft Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ main fiscal serviceman and the girl of the company’s founder, connected a U.S. extradition request.

Canada and others condemned what they called “hostage politics,” portion China described the charges against Huawei and Meng arsenic a politically motivated effort to clasp backmost China’s economical and technological development.

China, the U.S. and Canada completed what was fundamentally a high-stakes captive swap earlier this year, but the Chinese government’s estimation has been severely tarnished successful Canada.

One planetary VIP who volition beryllium attending the wintertime Olympics is United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The U.N. main received an invitation from the International Olympic Committee to be the Beijing Winter Games “and helium has accepted it,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Thursday.

Earlier, French president Emmanuel Macron said helium does not enactment a diplomatic boycott of the Games, but could reconsider aft talks with different European countries.

“We should not politicize” the Games by taking “small and symbolic” steps, Macron said. He added that helium volition question opinions from different European Union states and the IOC and past denote a communal determination “in the adjacent weeks.”

Along with the boycott controversy, the pandemic has dictated that promotional events for the games beryllium comparatively debased key, peculiarly erstwhile compared to the frenzied run launched up of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

China that twelvemonth staged a planetary torch relay that sparked convulsive confrontations on the way betwixt opponents of the ruling Communists and the party’s supporters. The relay has been canceled wholly this year.

At Beijing University of Posts and Communications, elder pupil Hu Xinran expressed a enactment of disappointment aft waiting successful enactment for 40 minutes to person her representation taken with a somewhat diminished Olympic flame.

“When I heard the occurrence was coming to our college, I was expecting it to beryllium connected the torch,” Hu said. “But contiguous I lone saw a tiny occurrence successful a lantern.”

“I deliberation the torch relay similar that for Beijing 2008 was overmuch much interesting. In my opinion, that was much fun.”