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Austria’s Karl Nehammer says won’t go to Beijing Winter Olympics due to strict Covid-19 curbs
- ‘We are against a politicisation of the Games and are coordinating in the EU,’ Chancellor Nehammer said
- Foreign ministers from several EU nations have made clear that they have little appetite to join the US initiative for a diplomatic boycott of the event
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Austria’s leader said no high-ranking politicians from his country will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, but he insisted that the decision is entirely because of coronavirus restrictions in China and is not a diplomatic protest.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s comments to Tuesday’s edition of German daily Die Welt came after foreign ministers from Austria and several other European Union nations made clear that they have little appetite to join the US initiative for a diplomatic boycott of the Games because of concerns over China’s human rights record.
“We are against a politicisation of the Games and are coordinating in the EU,” Nehammer was quoted as saying.
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“No high-ranking politicians from Austria will visit the Olympic Games in China,” he said. “However, that is not a diplomatic protest or boycott, but due only to the fact that the Covid requirements in China are rightly very high.”
“Because of the Covid pandemic, politicians can’t meet personally in China with their country’s athletes,” he added.
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