France will not participate in the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next February. Both France and Italy, the hosts of the 2024/26 Olympics, have taken a different path from the United States.
French President Emmanuel Macron made this statement at a press conference on the 9th (local time), raising questions about the effectiveness of the diplomatic boycott.
“You have to either boycott outright, not send your squad or take useful actions,” he said.
Earlier, French Minister of Education and Sports Jean-Michel Blanque said in an interview with BFM that France would not diplomatically boycott the Beijing Olympics. Secretary Blanque argued that sports should be protected from political interference because it is a world of its own.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves LeDrian said that the European Union (EU) was seeking a common position on the issue.
After the Beijing Olympics, France will host the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Italy, which hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, has also announced that it has no plans to participate in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
The Joe Biden administration officially announced on the 6th that it would diplomatically boycott the Beijing Olympics on the grounds of China’s suppression of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, which formed the British-American intelligence alliance ‘Five Eyes’ together with the United States, said they would participate in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics one after another.
A diplomatic boycott is a measure that sends athletes to the Olympics but does not send official delegations such as government officials. China protested that the US was politicizing sports. Russia, close to China, is preparing to attend the opening ceremony of President Vladimir Putin.
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