So far, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have announced that their policymakers would not move. This will not be the case with those of the UN or France.
Le Monde
After the announcement of a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games by the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, announced, Thursday, December 9, his coming to the opening ceremony. “The Secretary-General has received an invitation from the International Olympic Committee [IOC] to attend the opening of the winter games in Beijing and accepted it,” summed up a spokesperson.
The four Anglo-Saxon countries have chosen to diplomatically the ceremonies, which means that their athletes will participate in the competitions, but that their politicians will not move. It is a way of denouncing, in particular, human rights violations by the Chinese regime, particularly in the Muslim province of Xinjiang.
France will not arrange for this decision, that the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, called “very small and symbolic”. At a press conference to expose the Program of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he explained:
“You have to be clear, or we make a complete boycott, we do not send athletes, either we try to re-engage things and have a useful action. As always internationally, I am rather To do things that have a useful effect. “
With this in mind, France “will appreciate the evolution of the situation in relation to other Europeans, with the IOC,” he added, believing that we must not “politicize this subject”. It is expected that the country would be represented by the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, and Sophie Cluzel, the Secretary of State for Persons with Disabilities.
“that their official representatives come or not …”
The Anglo-Saxon diplomatic boycott was welcomed by a cleverly dosed mix of anger and contempt among Chinese officials. “They will inevitably pay the price of this bad shot,” said the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs after this “use of political manipulation (…). That their official representatives come or not, the games of Beijing winter will be a success “.
In addition to the fate of the million hears and other Turkish-speaking minorities, mostly Muslim, currently incarcerated in camps in the Xinjiang, according to human rights NGOs, the sources of tension are numerous with Beijing.
The Olympic Games are planned from 4 to 20 February, but because of the restrictions imposed by China at the entry of foreigners on behalf of the fight against the pandemic of COVID-19, few global policymakers should, In fact, traveling to Beijing … with the notable exception of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who accepted the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.