Beijing Winter Olympics: What does a diplomatic boycott achieve?

Just months ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics, host nation China has been hit by a wave of diplomatic boycotts from world powers over concerns about Beijing’s human rights record.

Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have in recent weeks announced that they will not be sending officials to the Games in February.

Nevertheless, their athletes will still be free to participate at the event.

The political move is seen as a way of sending a firm message to Beijing while avoiding the potential ramifications of a full boycott.

Beijing has been highly critical of the the diplomatic boycotts, referring to them as “political posturing” and vowing to take strong counter-measures against the US, which was the first country to take action.

What led to the diplomatic boycott?

China is accused of violating human rights by cracking down on ethnic minorities and using draconian laws to stifle democracy.

The government under President Xi Jinping has faced allegations of committing atrocities against the Uyghur minority community in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China.

UN experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in Xinjiang, where people are reportedly forced to undergo sterilisations and abortions.

The US, Canada and the Netherlands say that China’s conduct against the Uyghurs constitutes genocide under international law.

China describes the camps as vocational training centres to combat religious extremism and has denied abuses.

Beijing’s targeted crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong through stringent laws and its approach towards Tibet and Taiwan have also strained relations with the West.

More recently, calls for a full boycott of the Games intensified after Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai disappeared from public view after accusing the former vice premier of China Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault in a social media post on 2 November.

Which countries are not attending?

The boycott was led by the US earlier this month, days after President Joe Biden met virtually with his Chinese counterpart Mr Xi on 15 November. Australia, the UK and Canada have since followed suit.

Japan is reportedly also considering a diplomatic boycott. New Zealand said it won’t send diplomats to the Games but cited Covid-19 as the reason, rather than human rights concerns.

The EU is torn over a boycott, anxious about Chinese retaliation that would hurt trade with the bloc. One of its members, Austria, said on Wednesday that no high-ranking politicians would attend but said the decision was solely due to coronavirus restrictions.

While the diplomatic boycotts have been welcomed by rights groups in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, some activists believe the moves are not sufficient and have called for a full boycott.

What has the IOC said?

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has remained neutral and focused on the Olympic Charter, saying that the event is the only one to bring more than 200 national teams together.

The charter is the code of rules and bylaws that governs the IOC and “sets forth the conditions for the celebration of the Olympic Games.” Rule 2 relating to the “Mission and role of the IOC” helps explain why any boycott is treated as an affront to its principles.

This reads: “To take action to strengthen the unity of the Olympic Movement, to protect its independence, to maintain and promote its political neutrality and to preserve the autonomy of sport.”

“We always ask for as much respect as possible from the political world and the least possible interference on our sports and Olympic world and ideals,” senior IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch said last week.

Have there been previous boycotts?

A diplomatic boycott is a relatively old tactic, commonly used in world politics. In 2018, several European countries, including the UK, announced a diplomatic boycott of the football World Cup in Russia in light of the Novichok poison attacks in the English city of Salisbury.

As for the Olympics, the 1976 Montreal Games was hit mostly by boycotts from African nations in protest against New Zealand taking part after its rugby team toured Apartheid-era South Africa.

In 1980, the Moscow Olympics went ahead without the US and dozens of other teams protesting the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet bloc and allies retaliated with a boycott of the following 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

How has China reacted?

Beijing has been swift to denounce the diplomatic boycotts while also playing down the significance of the moves.

Following the US’s announcement, the Chinese embassy in Washington wrote in a tweet: “In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the #Beijing2022 to be successfully held.”

Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry said last Thursday: “The United States, Britain and Australia have used the Olympics platform for political manipulation. They will have to pay the price for their mistaken acts”.

Australia was dismissed as “immature, arrogant and stupid to follow the US” by the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times.

“Countries with rationality would think of the interests of their own people instead of cooperating with the US’s futile stunt,” it said.

The Pacific nation recently joined the UK and US to sign a security pact, in a bid to counter China’s aggression.

China is expected to retaliate with similar boycotts at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2032 Games in Brisbane.

Additional reporting from the Associated Press