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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2021 22:12:01 GMT
The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. The White House said no official delegation would be sent to the Games because of concerns about China's human rights record. But it said US athletes could attend and would have the government's full support. China has previously said it will take "resolute countermeasures" in the event of a boycott. US President Joe Biden said last month that he was weighing up a diplomatic boycott of the event. White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the boycott on Monday, saying that the administration would not contribute to the "fanfare" of the Olympics. "US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's [People's Republic of China] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang," she said. "We simply can't do that." The Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics falls far short of a previous US boycott in 1980, when it pulled its athletes out of the Moscow Olympics to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year. The Soviet Union and its allies, in turn, boycotted the following 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. Ms Psaki said the US government did not feel "it was the right step to penalise athletes who had been training for this moment", but that not sending an official US delegation to the 2022 Games "could send a clear message". The US is itself due to hold the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have called for the boycott as a means to protest against Chinese human rights abuses. The diplomatic boycott was quickly praised by politicians from both sides of the political spectrum.
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Post by Admin on Dec 7, 2021 4:51:53 GMT
Uyghur rights organizations are applauding the U.S. government's decision not to send any diplomatic or official representatives to Beijing for next year's Winter Olympics. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the diplomatic boycott was prompted by the Chinese government's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses," referring to the region in southwest China with a large population of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, such as Kazakhs. The Uyghur Human Rights Project, a U.S. advocacy organization promoting the rights of the Uyghurs and other Muslim groups in Xinjiang, hailed the U.S. diplomatic boycott. The organization emphasized that all governments should refuse to participate in the "spectacle of 21st-century genocide games." "The Chinese government is using the 2022 Winter Games as a showcase for its world leadership. A diplomatic boycott sends a strong signal: governments refuse to give a green light to the Uyghur genocide," Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said in a statement.
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Post by Admin on Dec 8, 2021 20:55:31 GMT
Australia has said it will join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the decision was in response to "human rights abuses" in China's Xinjiang province and "many other issues that Australia has consistently raised". Athletes would still attend, he added. China has condemned the US announcement and threatened to retaliate, without giving further details. On Monday, the US said it would not send diplomats to the Games in Beijing over concerns about China's human rights record. Mr Morrison said it was "no surprise" that Australia had joined the boycott, given relations with China had deteriorated in recent years. "I'm doing it because it's in Australia's national interest," he said on Wednesday. "It's the right thing to do." He accused China of rejecting opportunities to improve relations, insisting Australia remained open to bilateral talks. The Chinese embassy in Australia responded by saying: "Mountains cannot stop the river from flowing into the sea. Australia's success at the Beijing Winter Olympics depends on the performance of Australian athletes, not on the attendance of Australian officials, and the political posturing by some Australian politicians." It added that the blame for the current state of China-Australia relations "lies squarely on the Australian side".
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Post by Admin on Dec 9, 2021 3:51:07 GMT
The UK and Canada have become the latest nations to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, due to be held in February 2022. On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said no ministers will attend due to alleged human rights abuses in China, which Beijing strongly denies. Canada followed suit later in the day, also citing human rights concerns. It comes after similar announcements by the US and Australia earlier this week. China has condemned the US for its decision and threatened retaliation, without giving further details. Mr Johnson's announcement was made during Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions, after former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith called for a "diplomatic boycott" of the major sporting event. Mr Johnson told MPs that he typically did not support "sporting boycotts". In Ottawa, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that the country's boycott will not "come as a surprise to China". "We have been very clear over the past many years of our deep concerns around human rights violations." Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has said that, despite the growing number of political boycotts, the IOC was pleased that athletes would still be able to take part. "The presence of government officials is a political decision for each government so the principle of IOC neutrality applies," he said. In recent years, tensions have risen between China and several Western countries, over a number of diplomatic issues. The US has accused China of genocide in its repression of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in the western region of Xinjiang - an allegation China has repeatedly rejected. Relations between Canada and China grew turbulent following the 2018 arrest in Canada of a top executive with Chinese tech giant Huawei at the request of US officials, and the subsequent detention of two Canadians in China. All three were released earlier this year.
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Post by Admin on Dec 9, 2021 14:10:44 GMT
Australia vs Republic of Korea LIVE 🥌 | #Beijing2022 curling qualifiers
It's the last chance to earn a place at #Beijing2022 for these teams!
Last call for some of the world's top Curling teams to secure a spot in Beijing. Two tickets up for grabs in the Mixed Doubles, with 14 teams competing and 3 in both Men's and Women's, with 9 teams involved in each. Join us in this exciting competition and see which teams will finally make it to the Games!
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