Canada announces diplomatic boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics after US, Australia & UK

Becoming the latest in Beijing’s 2020 Olympic Games’ diplomatic boycott, Canada on Wednesday made an official announcement that no ministers from the country will attend in defiance to China’s alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang province against the minority Uyghur community. The ally of the US followed in the footsteps of the US, Australia and the UK after each announced a similar decision to boycott China.

On Wednesday, UK PM Boris Johnson announced that he will send no British ministers to the major sporting event to be held in China in February, next year after Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith demanded it, the British press reported. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a press briefing told reporters that it will not "come as a surprise to China” but Ottawa will not send government officials to the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics, launching a diplomatic boycott like the US. The US, UK, and Australia have now officially confirmed that they would not send any official delegations to Beijing, but the athletes can participate, to keep it fair for sports.

According to Canadian public broadcaster CBC, Trudeau in his speech on Parliament Hill said that the government is "extremely concerned" by the "repeated human rights violations carried out by the Chinese government.” He then added that Canada will show its displeasure with the communist regime by withholding its delegates from Olympics 2022. 

Trudeau's response to retaliatory blow from China

Asked whether he is expecting a retaliatory blow from China, which condemned the United States for its representative withdrawal from games, Trudeau said: "this should not come as a surprise" to the regime. He went on to add, "for months, we have been coordinating and discussing the issue with our allies.” As per CBC, for weeks, the Canadian MPs, senators, and civil society groups have been pushing the Prime Minister to hold China accountable for its crackdowns and human rights abuses in autonomous city of Hong Kong, as well as genocide on Uyghurs. Canada’s House of Commons, earlier this year, had passed a motion to recognise the violence and ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur minorities in China's Xinjiang province as "genocide." Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole acknowledged the Trudeau administration’s move, saying that the party’s appeal to relocate the 2022 Beijing games got "no traction with Mr. Trudeau" earlier, and a full boycott would be unfair to the Olympic and Paralympic athletes.