The UK will be sending Olympians to China’s Beijing games, although it will keep officials at home in a poor simulacrum of a boycott, according to Boris Johnson.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that UK athletes will be allowed to go to the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Johnson however did say that the UK government will join the US in their alleged “diplomatic boycott” of the Genocide Games by not sending any politicians or officials to the event.
“There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing,” Johnson said during Prime Ministers Questions in House of Commons. “No ministers are expected to attend and no officials.”
The prime minister also claimed that the UK has had “no hesitation” in raising the issue of the Uyghur genocide with the Chinese Communist party, but revealed he’d decided to take absolutely no real action in the high-profile opportunity the Olympics provides, as he did not think that an actual sporting boycott would be “sensible”.
The announcement comes after similarly meaningless “diplomatic boycotts” have been promised by the likes of the United States and Australia, though both nations have confirmed that their actual athletes will be attending the games.
As a result, the “boycotts” have been unceremoniously mocked by Chinese sources, with President Biden in particular being a lightning rod for insults.
“You’re not invited and not welcome, Mr Biden,” wrote the editor of one Chinese propaganda outlet. “Hope you will live long enough to see China boycotting Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028.”
“Only super narcissistic people will regard their absence as a powerful boycott,” wrote the editor of another mouthpiece, Global Times. “You are the people that Beijing residents least want to see.”
“US politicians keep hyping a ‘diplomatic boycott’ without even being invited to the Games,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who went on to say that the move was “grandstanding” and an attempt at “political manipulation”.
The Australian so-called “boycott” was met with similar ridicule from state sources.
“China hasn’t invited any Australian government official to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics. In fact, no one would care whether they come or not,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarked. “Australian politicians’ political stunt for selfish gains has no impact whatsoever on the Olympics to be successfully held by Beijing.”
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