Beijing blasts Australia over 2022 Winter Olympics diplomatic boycott

Beijing lodged ‘solemn representations’ after PM confirmed Australia is the first country to join the US-led diplomatic boycott.

An Olympic Rings sculpture in Beijing.

Australia has become the first country to join the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, prompting the Chinese government to warn that the nation will “pay a price”.

A spokesman for Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing had lodged “solemn representations” after Mr Morrison confirmed Australia would not be sending any government officials to the Games in February.

Australia’s decision puts it ahead of its allies and partners, although Canberra expects Britain, Canada and others will likely join the growing protest against China’s rampant human rights abuses.

Scott Morrison on Wednesday said China’s trade coercion, reaction to AUKUS and human rights record meant his decision not to send Australian officials to the Games was “not surprising”.

Scott Morrison says ‘I’ll always stand up for Australia’s interests’. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“I think (any economic retaliation) would be completely and utterly unacceptable, and there’d be no grounds for that whatsoever,” the Prime Minister said.

“I’ll always stand up for Australia’s interests and what Australians believe is right, and we are living in an uncertain time. I’m doing it because it’s in Australia’s national interest. It’s the right thing to do. Full stop.”

On Wednesday evening, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Australian government officials had never been invited to the Games by ­Beijing and were now engaging in “political manipulation”.

“No one will care if they come or not. (It) shows the hype will not have any impact on Beijing’s success in hosting the Winter Olympics,” Mr Wang said at a Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing. “It also fully exposes that the Australian government has blindly followed individual countries.”

Asked what counteractions China would take against the US and Australia, Mr Wang warned they would “pay a price”.

“We have already stated that the US will pay a price for its wrong moves. Just wait and see,” he said.

Despite the diplomatic row, the Chinese embassy in Canberra on Wednesday wished Australian athletes well and promised them a “safe and splendid Olympics”.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll said the AOC respected the government’s decision and its focus now was the safety of its up to 40-strong Olympic team.

“The AOC is very focused on ensuring that team members are able to safely travel to China given the complexity of the Covid environment, with our athletes departing from overseas locations,” Mr Carroll said in Sydney.

“Getting the athletes to Beijing safely, competing safely, and bringing them home safely remains our greatest challenge.”

Official government travel advice urges visitors to China to “exercise a high degree of caution” and warns: “Australians may be at risk of arbitrary detention.”

The opposition has endorsed the government’s decision. Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said it sent a strong message that China’s actions are not “the behaviour of a responsible global power”.

“We hold deep concerns about ongoing human rights abuses in China, including towards Uighurs and other ethnic and religious ­minorities, and about athlete ­safety given questions about the treatment of tennis player Peng Shuai,” Senator Wong said.

But West Australian Premier Mark McGowan again broke ranks with his federal Labor counterparts, saying “the Olympics should be above politics”.

“My broad view is that I think we should try and separate the Olympics from these sorts of political manoeuvres and just allow sport to continue, and deal with politics elsewhere,” he said.

The decision comes just a day after the White House announced a US diplomatic boycott of the Games, citing China’s ­“ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses”.

Beijing warned of “resolute countermeasures” against the US, describing its boycott decision as “a blatant political provocation and a serious affront to the 1.4 billion Chinese people”. It has raised its own boycott of the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028.

The Morrison government was criticised by many for exposing itself to Beijing’s fury last year when Australia led calls for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19.

“It was important that the US led this (boycott),” said one member of the Morrison government.

New Zealand this week confirmed it would not send any elected officials, although it would have diplomatic representation.

A source close to Wellington’s thinking said the government was still to decide whether New Zealand’s ambassador to China, Clare Fearnley, would attend.

Australian Institute of International Affairs president Allan Gyngell said unlike the White House, Mr Morrison had handled the announcement in the “lowest key” manner possible, minimising potential flashpoints.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Rhiannon Down