Beijing 2022 Winter Games boycott sees rising support from Canada condemning genocide of Uyghurs

A recent survey among Canadians has revealed that more than half of those polled favoured boycotting Canada's participation in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, underscoring the negative public opinion in the country toward China stemming from allegations of human rights abuses.

Online polling of 1,000 Canadians found that 54 per cent believe that the country "definitely should / probably should" boycott the international competition, while 24 per cent said "probably should not / definitely should not" according to Canadian polling firm Research Co. as reported in the South China Morning Post.

The diplomatic relationship shared by China-Canada has a very topsy-turvy dimension.
China-Canada relations have been getting increasingly tense, with both sides hurling insults and threats. The feud ignited after Canada agreed to a US request to extradite a Huawei executive. This led to retaliation by China with two Canadians - Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor - being confined over espionage allegations.

The to and fro accusation has been going on for some time.

In February, this year Canada's House of Commons voted 266-0, with abstentions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most members of the federal cabinet, on a resolution that equated China's treatment of the Uyghur minority population to genocide and urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to find a different host for the upcoming Winter Games.

The World Uyghur Congress, a human rights group, has urged International Olympic Committee's ethics commission to personally make a ruling on a complaint the group filed to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing, The Hill reported.

The rights group that represents Uyghurs Muslims in China, had filed a complaint with the Olympic committee's ethics commission in August 2020 requesting the organisation to reconsider holding the 2022 Olympics in China due to "verifiable evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity taking place against the Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims by the People's Republic of China."

Since January 21 this year the US Government, the Parliaments of Canada, and the Netherlands have officially recognised China's atrocities against the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan as genocide.

According to the Washington Post, "China is committing genocide against its 12-million person Uyghur Muslim minority. This declaration in the State Department's annual human rights report comes as no surprise, but it does make the conclusion by President Biden's administration official."

That means the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing will draw athletes, diplomats and corporations to a country that this government recognizes as responsible for ongoing crimes against humanity. "Calls to boycott next year's events, therefore, have to be considered seriously," the Washington Post said.

There are also doubts about how the Games in February next year will deal with the coronavirus.

(ANI)