Iran Press/ Asia: The United States will have to “pay a price” for its diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China said on Tuesday, just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the two sides.
The White House said on Monday US government officials would boycott the Winter Olympics because of China’s human rights “atrocities”, although US athletes were free to travel there to compete.
The US boycott, encouraged for months by some members of Congress and rights advocacy groups, comes despite an effort to stabilize ties, with a video meeting last month between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping.
Australia joins US-led diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics
Australia will not send officials to the upcoming winter Olympics in Beijing, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday, joining a US diplomatic boycott of the event.
Morrison also cited human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Beijing's freeze on ministerial contact with Australia.
"Australia will not step back from the strong position we've had standing up for Australia's interests and obviously it is of no surprise that we wouldn't be sending Australian officials to those Games," Morrison said.
The decision, which stopped short of preventing athletes from attending the 2022 Olympics, comes a day after the United States announced its diplomatic boycott.
The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Beijing 2022, is an upcoming international winter multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in China's Beijing.
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