December 24, (THEWILL) – The government of Japan announced Friday that no senior officials or Cabinet ministers will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, but stopped short of declaring the decision a diplomatic boycott.
At a news conference announcing this decision, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan “believes that respect for human rights is important,” while adding that “we made a decision comprehensively.”
Seiko Hashimoto, who is Tokyo’s Olympic Chief, Japanese Olympic Committee President, Yasuhiro Yamashita, and President of the Japan Paralympic Committee, Kazuyuki Mori, will also attend the event, according to Matsuno.
As THEWILL reported, Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister, stated earlier this month that he will not be attending the Games.
According to local media, Kishida has been under increasing pressure from inside his governing party to adopt a stronger position on China, a sensitive issue for Japan, which is a staunch ally of the US but also has strong commercial connections with its Asian neighbour.
For months, activists and critics have called for boycotts of the Beijing Games, citing worries about human rights violations in China, particularly among largely Muslim Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang.
China’s treatment of Uyghurs has been termed genocide by a number of international governments, legislators, independent courts, and humanitarian organisations.
So far, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have joined the United States in declaring diplomatic boycotts, which means they will not send any formal delegations, though their athletes will compete. China’s “egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang.” prompted the boycott, according to the US.
On their part, China has slammed the boycotts, claiming that politics and sports should be kept apart and that participating countries are betraying the Olympic spirit of cooperation. Beijing threatened the Biden administration with reprisal in a statement earlier this month, warning that the measure might hurt bilateral relations.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
