OTTAWA/BEIJING — Canada joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday , with China calling the boycotts"political posturing" and a smear campaign.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Beijing would be aware of long-standing Western concerns about human rights in China." it shouldn't be a surprise that we decided not to send diplomatic representation." Two Canadians, Mr Michael Kovrig and Mr Michael Spavor, who were arrested by Beijing shortly after Ms Meng's 2018 detention, were also freed in September.
Asked earlier in parliament if his country would follow Washington's lead, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:"There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, no ministers are expected to attend and no officials." Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said its decision came because of Australia's struggles to reopen diplomatic channels with China to discuss alleged human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang and Beijing's moves against Australian imports.
"The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee remain concerned about the issues in China but understand the Games will create an important platform to draw attention to them," said the COC in a statement.Other US allies have been slow to commit to joining the boycott, though Japan is considering not sending cabinet members to the Games, the Sankei Shimbun daily said on Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources.
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