Govt gives Beijing Olympics a miss
The Government will not send ministers to China’s Winter Olympic Games but New Zealand diplomats may attend, as the United States announces a ‘‘diplomatic ban’’ on the event.
Sport Minister Grant Robertson yesterday said the Government had decided in October it would not send any ministers to the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, and China had been informed of this.
He said this decision was due to a ‘‘range of factors, but mostly to do with Covid and the fact that the logistics of travel and so on around Covid are not conducive to that kind of trip’’.
The United States yesterday announced a diplomatic boycott of the February Games in protest at China’s persecution of the Uyghur people in the country’s Xinjiang province. Australia was considering a similar move, according to reports.
‘‘We’ve made clear to China on numerous occasions our concerns about human rights issues, as recently as the prime minister talking to [China’s] President Xi.
So they are well aware of our view on human rights,’’ Robertson, who is also deputy prime minister, said yesterday.
Robertson said he would not call New Zealand’s stance on the games a ‘‘diplomatic boycott’’.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it remained undecided whether its China-based diplomats, including ambassador Clare Fearnley, would attend events at the games.
‘‘The New Zealand Olympic Committee has sought accreditation for a small number of embassy staff, including the ambassador, to provide consular support to the team, should it be needed, as is standard practice for this kind of event,’’ a spokeswoman said. ‘‘No decisions have been taken on attendance beyond this.’’
New Zealand was among many nations to sign the United Nations ‘‘Olympic Truce’’ for the Winter Games last week, whereas 20 countries, including the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, refused to sign the resolution.
A cross-party pair of MPs, National’s Simon O’Connor and Labour’s Louisa Wall, yesterday wrote to Robertson, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta asking them to publicly confirm they would not attend the games.
O’Connor and Wall co-chair the New Zealand branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an assemblage of MPs across various parliaments concerned with China’s actions.
A decision not to send ministers to the games was an ‘‘appropriate response’’, O’Connor said.
Wang Genhua, China’s deputy chief of mission and current charge d’affaires, said last week that Ardern had promised Chinese President Xi Jinping that New Zealand athletes would attend the games, in a recent ‘‘very good’’ phone call.