More Countries Consider Reducing Official Attendance At 2022 Winter Olympics

Australia has followed in the United States' footsteps and announced that it will not send officials to the upcoming Beijing Olympics, with more countries considering limited attendance, in a sign of a growing diplomatic tension between China and its rivals.

• The White House announced that the U.S. will not be sending the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, owing to China's human rights "atrocities." The move drew the ire of China, whose Foreign Ministry warned that the U.S. "will pay a price for its mistaken acts."
• Australian Prime Minister Morrison confirmed that Canberra will join the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics to protest China's "human rights abuses" in Xinjiang and difficulties in bilateral relations. Morrison cited China's coercive trade practices and its repeated refusals to discuss contentious issues as key apples of discord. No Australia-based officials or politicians and no representatives of the Australian embassy in China will attend the Olympics.
• New Zealand will not be sending ministerial-level diplomatic representation to the games, but the justification given by Deputy Prime Minister Robertson was somewhat more guarded. He cited worries over the Covid-19 situation and the logistics of travel as reasons for the decision. The limited scale of and cautious rhetoric around Wellington's move highlights a divergence in the attitudes of the trans-Tasman neighbours towards China, with New Zealand taking a typically more conciliatory stance.
• Japan is yet to make a decision, according to Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, but the Sankei reported this morning that the government is considering such a move. Under a currently reviewed scenario, Japan could send heads of its Sports Agency and Olympic Committee to China, none of whom holds any ministerial portfolio.
• It was earlier reported that there was an "active discussion" within the UK government over a potential diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, but there has been no formal announcement on the matter. The latest Telegraph piece suggested that the UK could decide on a "limited government attendance that would stop short of a full-on diplomatic boycott," which nonetheless "still remains a possibility."
• Note that none of the listed countries has announced any form of sporting boycott, which means their athletes will still compete in the Olympics, unlike on several occasions during the Cold War.