“Pakistan’s stance against any type of sports politicization is greatly admired. The Beijing Winter Olympic Games are not a platform for political posturing and grandstanding “On Sunday, Nong Rong sent a message on Twitter. Despite the fact that the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Lithuania, and Canada have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Pakistan has backed its all-weather ally, saying the games will be “a spectacular and colourful gala for sports enthusiasts all over the world.”
According to Xinhua, During a weekly media conference, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Asim Iftikhar Ahmad voiced Islamabad’s trust in China’s ambition to hold the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Despite the constraints set by Covid-19, Ahmad claimed the event would provide “a stunning and colorful gala to sports aficionados around the world, including in Pakistan,” according to the Xinhua story. “The Olympic games represent sportsmanship, team spirit, solidarity, effort, struggle, and retaining grace in competition regardless of the outcome,” according to the spokeswoman.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games in protest of China’s treatment of Turkic Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities, as well as civil society and human rights activists. New Zealand has also stated that it had already informed Beijing that it would not be sending any officials owing to pandemic travel restrictions, but had also expressed its concerns about human rights. The Biden administration said on Monday that it will not send an official US delegation to the Beijing Winter Olympics as a symbolic protest against China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”
According to a foreign ministry official on Tuesday, France has “fully observed” the US decision to diplomatically boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and would talk with European partners on the next move. China, for its part, has rejected the diplomatic boycott as a useless move that goes against the Olympic spirit but has also threatened retaliation.
