China Won’t Invite U.S. Politicians to Olympics, Report Says

themickey

themickey

Bloomberg News 29 November 2021
  • Global Times says pandemic rules out large-scale invitations
  • Biden has said he’s weighing diplomatic boycott of spectacle
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A lantern containing the Olympic flame for Beijing 2022 Winter Games on display at Beijing Olympic Tower.
Photographer: Hou Yu/China News Service/Getty Images

China has no plan to ask any U.S. politicians to attend the Winter Olympics, according to the Communist Party-backed Global Times -- a report that comes after President Joe Biden said he’s weighing a diplomatic boycott of the event.

Efforts to fight the pandemic ruled out large-scale invitations, the newspaper said Monday, citing a person close to preparation for the games that it did not identify.

Still, the Global Times indicated politics played a role in the decision not to ask American officials to come. China viewed the success of the event as having nothing to do with the presence of some anti-China politicians from the West, the unidentified person was quoted as saying in the report.

“Without them messing things up, the Beijing Winter Olympics will be even more splendid,” the person was quoted as saying........
 
Australia has joined 19 other countries in opting not to sign a truce with China ahead of next year’s Winter Olympics amid growing pressure for a diplomatic boycott of the event.

The refusal to sign the Olympic Truce – a tradition that dates back to ancient Greece to ensure conflicts don’t disrupt the competition – was designed to send a message to Beijing over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and the treatment of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.

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Australia is weighing up a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.Credit:AP

Since its revival in 1993, Israel and North Korea are usually the only countries not to sign the truce. But the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday passed the resolution without the support of 20 countries.

None of the “Quad” members – United States, India, Australia and Japan – sponsored the resolution, and New Zealand was the only country in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, comprising Australia, NZ, Canada, the United Kingdom and the US, to sign the truce.......
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...hs-up-diplomatic-boycott-20211203-p59eh2.html
 
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