On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics Games due to the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uyghur Muslims minority in the Xinjiang region.
In a tweet, Trudeau said: “Canada remains deeply disturbed by reports of human rights violations in China. As a result, we won’t be sending diplomatic representatives to Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
Canada remains deeply disturbed by reports of human rights violations in China. As a result, we won’t be sending diplomatic representatives to Beijing for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. We’ll continue to support our athletes who work hard to compete on the world stage.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 8, 2021
Furthermore, at a joint press conference in Ottawa with Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, Trudeau told reporters: “We have been very clear over the past many years of our deep concerns around human rights violations, and this is a continuation of us expressing our deep concerns for human rights violations.” “They (Chinese Government) should not be surprised we will not be sending any diplomatic representation,” he added.
Foreign Minister Joly, who has been floating the idea of a diplomatic boycott since her tenure began in October, said, “Canada has been playing a leadership role on this—this is in line with our foreign policy. Canada always stands up on questions of human rights.” Joly emphasised that it is important to send a strong signal to China because “we’re extremely concerned about allegations about the Uyghurs” while also saying that the situation needs to be “dealt with diplomatically, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Canada is the sixth nation after the United States (US), Australia, United Kingdom (UK), New Zealand, and Lithuania to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Games over human rights concerns.
Responding to Trudeau’s announcement, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Canada said: “Canada and a handful of Western countries have been flagrantly engaged in political manoeuvring, with the attempt to disrupt the smooth progress of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their clumsy performance can hardly find any support and is doomed to fail.” The spokesperson added that the decision of these countries to boycott the Games was “based on ideological biases as well as lies.”
Relations between Ottawa and Beijing are at an all-time low, particularly after the Chinese government detained two Canadians—Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig—to retaliate against the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018. Although Spavor and Kovrig were released in September this year in an intricate prisoner swap involving the United States, Canada and China, it has done little to improve Canada’s relations with China.
In the past, Trudeau has criticised China’s “coercive diplomacy.” On a strategic front, Canada has irked China by moving its warships through the Taiwan Strait; China heavily patrols the area with fighter jets. These spats have had an impact on Canada’s China-dependent economy. For instance, following the Meng incident, Canadian farmers and the agrifood industry suffered heavily due to restrictions on shipments of pork, beef, canola seeds, and soybeans to China. Moreover, Canada appears to have walked away from free trade negotiations with China over these developments.
Nevertheless, Trudeau has faced criticism back home for his soft approach regarding China. The Conservative Party’s shadow minister of foreign affairs and Member of Parliament Michael Chong described Trudeau’s China policy as full of “incoherence and contradiction.” “We’ve called on the government to take many more measures to counter threats that China is presenting to our values and our interests. It’s why we’ve been calling for years now to ban Huawei,” Chong said.