Beijing Olympics 2022 controversy: Why and which nations are boycotting Winter Games?
India was the latest to join the boycott after Beijing picked a Chinese soldier involved in the Galwan incident as an Olympic torchbearer.
The Winter Olympics Games in Beijing 2022 which started from February 4 and will go on till the 20th has seen around 91 delegations joining the competition in China, as compared to 206 that had travelled to Japan for the Summer Olympics.
So why are the number of participating countries at the Winter Games is much smaller than that seen at the Summer Games in Tokyo? There could be multiple reasons for the same, but the three that stand out are one due to most countries don't have the weather conditions that would be conducive to excelling in Winter Games and the second and other being the Covid-19 pandemic. However, one of the most important reasons some countries are 'boycotting' the Games is due to China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.
Let's have a step by step look at why some countries are not present and some are boycotting Winter Games:
Weather conditions:
As compared to Summer Olympics - where almost all countries take part - the Winter Games sees lees numbers due to the weather conditions. The events at the Winter Olympics are games practised on snow or ice, and some countries find these in short supply. Although some tropical countries have sent athletes to the Games, none of them has ever won a medal.
More than half of the countries that will not be at the Winter Olympics are from Africa. Out of 54 nations in the continent, only Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, and Nigeria have sent competitors. Kenya too had an athlete qualified, but later on, withdrew.
The Covid-19 pandemic:
While climate played a major factor, the outbreak of the pandemic also was another factor that hindered the participation of some countries. North Korea stated they would not send their athletes citing Covid-19 as a reason.
The Diplomatic boycott:
In protest at China's rights record, the United States (US) and many of its allies, including Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and Denmark, had said that they would be sending in their athletes, but will not send an official diplomatic delegation to the Winter Olympics.
The boycott began after rights groups criticised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for awarding the Games to China and stated that the country's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups was inhuman. The United States even deemed it a genocide, however, China denied all allegations.
According to UN experts and rights groups, more than a million people, mainly from the Uyghur and other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in camps in Xinjiang.
Lithuania was the first country to confirm a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Australia, Britain, Canada and Japan joined Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Estonia in the decision to not send diplomats to Beijing for the Games. Other nations, such as Sweden, New Zealand, Slovenia and Austria also had confirmed not sending any government representative to China.
India to also boycott:
India was the latest to join the boycott after Beijing picked a Chinese soldier involved in the Galwan incident as an Olympic torchbearer. India said that its envoy will not attend the opening or closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. This meant that New Delhi will boycott the Olympics at the diplomatic level although it will send an athlete for the event.
The Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had told reporters: "It is indeed regrettable that the Chinese side has chosen to politicize an event like the Olympics… the Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of India in Beijing will not be attending the opening or the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics."
Here is a list of countries that will be missing the 2022 Winter Games.
Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
The Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Botswana
Brunei
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Cuba
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Fiji
Gabon
The Gambia
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Honduras
Indonesia
Iraq
Jordan
Kenya
Kiribati
North Korea
Kuwait
Laos
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Malawi
Maldives
Mali
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Micronesia
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Oman
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Qatar
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
South Sudan
Suriname
Syria
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe