Japan will not send government delegation to Beijing Winter Olympics

Athletes will still participate and three officials will attend, including Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organising committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics

Tokyo’s move is in line with a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Games over China’s human rights record

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Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno announces the country will not send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 2:10pm, 24 Dec 2021

Japan will not send a government delegation to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the top government spokesman said on Friday, a decision seen as in line with a US-led diplomatic boycott of the sporting spectacle over China’s human rights record.

But Japanese athletes will attend the Games in February as scheduled, according to government sources.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan will send Seiko Hashimoto, a House of Councillors lawmaker and president of the organising committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held this summer, and two other officials.

The Japanese government gave up on a plan to send senior officials to the Beijing Games because it has seen little improvement in the human rights situations in the far-western Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, the sources said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attaches importance to human rights as a major pillar of Japan’s diplomacy, they said.

“We think it is important that universal values such as freedom, respect of basic human rights and rule of law are ensured in China,” Matsuno said. “We have made the decision by comprehensively taking into account such factors.”

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