Dharamshala, 17th December: Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, has indicated he will not attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing’s opening ceremony, but it is unclear whether the country will join a US-led diplomatic boycott over human rights abuses. Kishida has only stated that he will make a decision based on Japan’s “national interest,” possibly by the end of the year, while media reports claim that ministers and politicians are likely to skip the Games.
Kishida said in parliament on Thursday that he have no intentions at this point to participate, declining to say if Japan would send any representatives to the event, despite suggestions suggesting it was unlikely to ignore the hosts entirely.
Following their announcement that they would not send delegations of officials and lawmakers to Beijing, China has accused the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia of “political posturing” and warned them that they would “pay a price.” Their athletes, on the other hand, will compete.
Countries participating in the boycott stated they were condemning China’s human rights violations, such as the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, Hong Kong’s crackdown on democracy and freedoms, and Tibet’s repression.
The boycott has put Japan, a key US partner in Asia, in a difficult position less than two months before the Games begin. Japan has strong economic links with China, its largest trade partner, and will not want to appear to be ignoring Beijing ahead of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations normalization next year. Furthermore, despite strong public opposition due to fears about the coronavirus, Chinese officials supported the decision to have the Olympics in Tokyo this year.
France and South Korea doesn’t join the boycott:
Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea, announced this week that his country would not join the boycott, calling the Games, which will take place from February 4 to 20, as “good” for Seoul’s relations with Beijing. Moon’s announcement was welcomed by Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry, but he warned Japan that “politicizing sport is counter to the spirit of the Olympic charter.” France, which will host the 2024 summer Olympics, has announced that it will send high-level officials to Beijing, breaking with other G7 nations.