Netherlands and Denmark won’t send officials to Beijing Olympics
- The Dutch say they are not joining the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games, but coronavirus curbs will prevent human rights talks with the Chinese
- Athletes from both countries will still attend, though Dutch King Willem-Alexander will not be present
The Netherlands will not send diplomatic representatives to the Beijing Winter Olympics because Covid-19 curbs will prevent talks with Chinese officials on human rights, the Dutch foreign ministry said Friday.
But officials insisted that the move, which ministers decided on at a meeting on Friday, was not a political boycott of the sort already announced by the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain.
Denmark had announced a similar move earlier on Friday.
“We think that the severe Covid measures will make it difficult to have meetings in China and a substantive programme of bilateral meetings with the host country,” Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Frits Kemperman told.
“In these meetings we could talk about the worries on the human rights situation, as the Netherlands sees it, on a meaningful level with the authorities. So this is why the government concludes that we will not send an official delegation.”