There are growing calls for at least some form of boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. Contrary to the popular narrative of “China Joe”, it is the US president who is so far taking the lead.
But the only boycotts announced so far, are “diplomatic boycotts”.
Australia’s best-known Winter Olympian, Steven Bradbury, has called for Australia to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games, criticising its use of Uighurs as “human slaves” and warning “if we don’t stand up to China they will take over the world”.
Scott Morrison, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Sports Minister Richard Colbeck were considering Australia’s options on Tuesday after the Biden administration confirmed the US would not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Games in February.
They face growing pressure to back the US, with the head of the parliament’s intelligence and security committee, James Paterson, also urging the Prime Minister to take a stand against China’s “unconscionable human rights abuses”.
You’d think, though, if the issue is so important — as it is — that athletes would be lining up to put their money where their mouths are. Cue much shuffling and mumbling of excuses.
Bradbury, the former speed skater who famously won Australia’s first winter gold medal in 2002 when all his opponents fell over before the finish, said Australia’s athletes should be able to compete, but China’s behaviour should be met by an appropriate international protest.
“You can’t take away an athlete’s dreams,” he said. “But if China isn’t going to act in a way so that we can all live together on planet Earth and if China is going to continue to put tariffs on our products and try to hamstring us, then we need to act.
“It has become glaringly obvious that China’s mission is to take over the world, and more and more people are starting to understand that,” he said.
Bradbury, who now runs beer label Last Man Standing, said Australian consumers should also take a stand against the authoritarian regime by avoiding Chinese products. “Who knows how many Uighurs are being treated as human slaves doing their manufacturing? If we continue to not support Australian-owned products then it aids China,” he said.
The Australian
So… athletes want everyone but them to take a stand against China.
Yet, even as the Morrison government announces its own diplomatic boycott, the PM tries to sell an each-way bet for the athletes themselves.
Scott Morrison has confirmed Australia will not send any official government representatives to the Beijing Winter Olympics after the US announced it would stage a diplomatic boycott of the sporting event.
Speaking in Sydney, the Prime Minister said Australian athletes would still attend the Games, which are due to be held in February next year.
“Australia’s a great sporting nation and I very much separate the issues of sport and these other political issues,” Mr Morrison said.
The Australian
Except, by boycotting the Olympics in any form, you are doing exactly that. So, make it mean something.
Even if the PM wants to separate sport and politics, the reality is that China is most certainly not doing so.
These are shaping up to be a re-run of the 1936 Summer Olympics. Back then, a brutal socialist dictatorship was rattling its sabres and exploiting the games as a propaganda coup. 85 years later, another brutal socialist dictatorship is threatening war against its neighbours — it must be denied the propaganda coup it so desperately desires.
The sporting world lost its chance to call China out in 2008. If they flub it again, out of self-interest, they ought to be ashamed.
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