Calls grow louder to boycott Beijing’s Olympics

April 7, 2021:- Countries and companies outside China face increasing pressure to boycott the Winter Olympics in Beijing from next year. Still, China will not sit back in response, political risk consultancy Eurasia Group says.

“Western governments and firms face mounting pressure from human rights advocates and political critics of China to boycott the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” according to Eurasia Group analysts.

The Games will take place between February 4 to 20.

A report published on Thursday said, “China will punish countries that boycott the Games with political sanctions and commercial retaliation, but with much greater severity in the athletic boycott scenario.”

“Campaigners have focused on Beijing’s targeted repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which some Western governments have called genocide,” the report said.

Last month, the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States issued a joint statement accusing the Chinese government of inflicting an “extensive program of repression” on the Uyghur people, including detention camps, forced labor, and forced sterilizations.

China has repeatedly denied allegations of forced labor and other abuses in Xinjiang. The foreign ministry last month called such claims “malicious lies” designed to “smear China” and “frustrate China’s development.”

In late March, H&M faced backlash in China over a statement from last year in which the Swedish retailer said it was “deeply concerned” by reports of forced labor in Xinjiang.

Supporters of the Olympic boycott argue that it is “necessary to punish China for its systemic discrimination against ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, the crackdown on political freedoms in Hong Kong, and hostility to self-rule in Taiwan,” the Eurasia report said.