China has threatened sanctions against Britain and any other country boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over the alleged “genocide” of Uighur Muslims.
British lawmakers, including Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, have called for a boycott of the GB team for alleged “ethnic cleansing” of Beijing against Uyghurs who have been imprisoned and subjected to political “re-education” in Xinjiang.
But Hu Xijin, the state-controlled Global Times editor, warned on Sunday that “China will seriously sanction any country that follows such a call.”
“Boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, an unpopular idea, will not receive widespread support,” he said.
Mr Davey backed out today saying “we cannot be intimidated by the Chinese government” – adding that “we must use every lever we have”.
Up to a year: Olympic rings are lit at the Beijing Olympic Tower last Friday, a year before the 2022 winter show begins
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, pictured, backed the threat of sanctions today by saying “we cannot be harassed by the Chinese government”
Lib Dems said over the weekend that British athletes should not be “part of a propaganda exercise” for communist China in 2022.
Mr Davey compared the upcoming Games to a notorious photo from the 1930s, in which the English football team greeted the Nazis before a friendly in Berlin.
“No one can be proud of past failures to act, so today we must act,” he said.
Responding today to the threat of sanctions, he said: “What we hear from China is simple and straightforward aggression and we cannot be harassed by the Chinese government while committing ethnic cleansing and genocide.
“No one wants sanctions, but we cannot allow our athletes and businesses and our country to be harassed by a government that commits genocide.”
He added: “Should we ask ourselves if we can look future generations in the eye and say that we have done everything we can against what appears to be a mass crime against humanity?
“I made some very reasonable requests. The entire world community is making reasonable demands, and the Chinese government should not hide from it.
“If they have nothing to hide, they should allow independent UN monitors to come in and verify or not verify these statements. I have seen reports from the international media, human rights organizations and the BBC showing the evidence. The Chinese authorities must respond. ”
Labor MP Chris Bryant also called for a boycott, telling The Guardian that “I just don’t see why anyone would want to go to the Beijing Winter Olympics.”
“I think it’s amazing that the British government doesn’t seem to have a backbone in this regard,” he said.
“I think the British Olympic Association should call for the Winter Olympics to move, and if it doesn’t, we should boycott it.”
A watchtower in a high-security unit in Xinjiang, where a million people are believed to have been detained in re-education facilities that resembled Nazi concentration camps
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab did not rule out the 2022 Games boycott when questioned by a parliamentary committee last year.
“In general, my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics, but there comes a point where this cannot be possible,” he told lawmakers.
“I would say to gather evidence, to work with our international partners, to consider along the way what additional actions we need to take.”
Human rights groups have expressed concern about the 2022 event since it was awarded to Beijing in 2015 – seven years after the city hosted the Summer Games.
Since then, the West’s relations with China have deteriorated following a long list of problems, including Uighurs, but also the coronavirus and Hong Kong pandemic.
But the United States does not currently intend to boycott the Games, the American Olympic and Paralympic Committee saying it opposes such a move.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last week that “we are not currently talking about changing our position or our plans for the Beijing Olympics.”
The United States boycotted the famous 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, many American allies joined the protest.
This caused the USSR and most of its Eastern Bloc allies to retaliate when the Games were held in Los Angeles four years later.
But Britain was left out of the geopolitical struggle by participating in both events and also rejected calls for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Trump-era US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) used his last hours in office to officially label Uyghurs’ treatment of China as “genocide.”
The British government says there is “growing” evidence of “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang, including forced labor and illegal detention.
China is believed to have locked up more than a million people in a vast network of detention centers that have been compared to Nazi concentration camps.
Human rights groups say Uyghurs are being subjected to forced sterilization and political brainwashing in the camps.
In his last hours in office, the Donald Trump administration last month officially labeled China’s treatment of Uighurs as “genocide.”
“We are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy the Uighurs by the Chinese state party,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Joe Biden’s administration said it would review the “genocide” ruling for procedural reasons, but did not question the substance of the allegations.
China denies the allegations, denying the existence of “re-education camps” and claiming that Uighurs live in “peace and contentment, unity and harmony”.
Beijing also claims that the Uyghur population has grown in recent decades and uses it as if to prove that the allegations of “genocide” cannot be true.