Canada joins allies in diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will not send an official delegation to February's Winter Olympics in Beijing, though Canadian athletes will still compete.

Canada has joined a growing list of Western countries refusing to send diplomats to cheer on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in what amounts to a repudiation of the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive treatment of minorities in Xinjiang and its crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada will be conducting a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games set for February in China’s capital.

The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Lithuania have already announced their own diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Olympics.

A diplomatic boycott doesn’t amount to a full boycott and Canadian athletes will still represent Canada at the 24th Olympic Winter Games.

Why Canada and the EU should join the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games.

Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center, said a diplomatic boycott is bad for China but a full boycott of athletes would be far worse.

She said Beijing regards the boycott, along with Mr.

Lynette Ong, a political scientist at the University of Toronto, said she feels the Western diplomatic boycott is as much aimed at the International Olympic Committee over its effort to play down Beijing’s removal of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai from public life.

Trudeau said he doesn’t think China will be surprised by Canada’s decision.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was asked Wednesday how substantive a move this diplomatic boycott is given that Canada normally only sends a few diplomatic representatives to such events.

She said she believed it nevertheless amounts to a “strong signal” to China.