US diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics has fallen flat

As the Beijing Winter Olympics approaches, it is clear that Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the games is an international laughing stock. So far only members of the Five Eyes alliance and several other countries have followed suit.

Of the Five Eyes countries, only Australia and Canada seemed to unconditionally support the US. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that no UK ministers will attend the games, but added that he typically did not support “sporting boycotts”. New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said early last month New Zealand government ministers would not attend the event due to logistical challenges related to Covid-19, rather than the US’ diplomatic boycott.

Some countries, including traditional US allies, have criticised the boycott. French President Emmanuel Macron said France has no plans to join a diplomatic boycott that would be “insignificant” and merely “symbolic”.

The Austrian government has expressed opposition to any politicisation of the games, although it won’t send representatives due to the coronavirus restrictions.

In his statement to Czech athletes, Czech Republic President Milos Zeman said he was “fundamentally opposed to the abuse of the Olympic idea for political purposes”.

Meanwhile, after announcing the diplomatic boycott, Washington submitted visa applications for more than 40 US officials to attend the games. As Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, this is “rather baffling”.

Despite the diplomatic boycott by some countries and the Covid-19 restrictions, many international organisations and countries plan to send their senior officials to the games.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres confirmed this month that he would attend the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, with the message that the event “must be an instrument of peace in the world”.

After accepting the invitation last November to attend the games, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally told Chinese President Xi Jinping in a video call in mid-December that he would be there.

The president of Poland, a Nato member, will also attend the games. The president’s foreign affairs adviser Jakub Kumoch told Reuters that as a sovereign nation, Poland “decides its own politics towards China”. “Poland is an ally of the United States but Poland also has a very friendly relationship with China,” he said.

Finland’s Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen will also attend the games, saying the decision was made with regard to sports and not foreign policy.

The governments of the most of the 90 countries taking part in the games have not opted to join the diplomatic boycott. The officials of many countries, in government or sports organisations, from India to Japan, have expressed support for the games.

These actions represent the mainstream public opinion of the international community that supports and expects the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics to be successful. Washington’s attempt to make use of the sports event to humiliate China is doomed to failure.

Tony Chan, Kuala Lumpur

Wake-up call for Biden and his foreign policy team

I write with reference to “With China, Russia and Iran waiting in the wings, can America really leave Iraq?” (January 24). US President Joe Biden says that some of the issues he is confronting are inflection points in history, and I believe him. I also fear his dabbling in them.

I doubt Mr Biden’s ability to step aside from partisan politics on the domestic front, and fear the absence of new thinking when he wanders abroad. The results in his first year at the bully pulpit have been unpromising, and I am not alone in thinking so; credible polling at home reflects his poor performance. His weakness and that of his foreign policy team may yet prove way more dangerous to our country.

Autocratic sharks in the waters of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait along with those off Korea, in the Black Sea, Persian Gulf and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers smell frailty, confusion and timidity and home in on the elite irresolution characteristic of liberal think tanks, faculty lounges and fancy meeting rooms at the United Nations and Geneva. Hypersonic missiles are a wake-up call that America better move more rapidly, for the times they are a changin’.

Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati, US

Thank you for the music, Meat Loaf

Since 1977, when I was 14, I have bellowed the music from Bat Out of Hell at the top of my lungs on almost any occasion. It was love at first hearing.

That Meat Loaf has passed is sad. Heaven can wait, for the lead singer of a band of angels is wrapped up in our hearts. His songs took us all through lonely nights and through the cold of the day. Meat Loaf came down here just to sing for us and the melody’s gonna make him fly, without pain, without fear.

Rest in peace, Meat Loaf.

Mark Peaker, The Peak