Boris Johnson has said there will “effectively be a diplomatic boycott” of the Winter Olympics in Beijing as no UK ministers or officials will be attending.
It comes after Australia became the latest country to announce it would boycott the Games, following a similar announcement by the United States earlier this week.
Both countries announced diplomatic boycotts over Beijing’s record on human rights, particularly the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim community in Xinjiang province.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative party, urged the Prime Minister to ensure that the UK followed the lead of the United States by having a full diplomatic boycott of the Games in February.
Mr Johnson said the Government had “no hesitation” in raising concerns over human rights abuses with China, adding in the Commons: “There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
“No ministers are expected to attend and no officials,” he said.
“What I can tell the House is I don’t think sporting boycotts are sensible and that remains the policy of the Government.”
Royal Family can still attend Games
However, Mr Johnson’s comments leave open the prospect that members of the Royal family could still attend the event which begins on February 4 and goes on for 18 days. The Princess Royal is president of the British Olympic Association and a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Sir Iain welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement and said he hoped “many other countries will follow suit”.
New Zealand and Lithuania are among other countries that have also announced their refusal to deploy ministers to the Games, although their athletes will still participate. Canada has yet to decide.
Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, said he had announced a boycott because it was “the right thing to do”.
In Australia’s case, it was not only human rights concerns but also a series of political disputes with China which had triggered the move – including the Aukus pact with the UK and US over nuclear-powered submarines.
He said his government was very happy to talk to China about their differences “but the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet”.
On Tuesday, cross-party parliamentarians in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) wrote to the Prime Minister and to Liz Truss calling for a full diplomatic boycott.
The International Olympic Committee has said the Games should be treated as “politically neutral ground” and argued that the sporting event “cannot address all the challenges in our world”.
