Anti-China activists in Japan call for boycott of winter Olympics

People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak are seen near a giant Olympic rings at top of the Olympic Tower, during an organised media tour to 2022 Winter Olympic Games venues in Beijing, China January 22, 2021. Picture taken January 22, 2021. [REUTERS/Tingshu Wang]

A group of anti-China activists campaigning for human rights in Tibet and support for ethnic Uighurs called on Thursday for a boycott of the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing, saying the Games would embolden China's government in its crackdowns.

The Beijing Games are due to open in exactly one year but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is coming under pressure from critics of China's human rights record.

"The IOC foolishly decided on having the winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing (so) we are forced to speak out," Kalden Obara, president of a group called the Tibetan Community in Japan, told a news conference in Tokyo.

"If China doesn't stop human rights violations in Tibet and the neighbouring regions, then China should not be allowed to host this 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing."

A coalition of 180 rights groups said in an open letter to various governments on Wednesday that a boycott of the Games would "ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese government's appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent".

Another activist at the Thursday news conference, Hidetoshi Ishii, vice president of the Free Indo-Pacific Alliance, called for countries, including the United States, to act in unison.

"This is not something that only Japan can do, so we want the international community to act together," Ishii said.

"We want the new Biden administration to join us."

Kalden Obara, president of Tibetan Community in Japan, and other activists wearing protective masks amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, attend a news conference against China hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, February 4, 2021. [REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon]

Among the activists at the news conference was a democracy campaigner from Hong Kong and a representative of a group called the Southern Mongolia Congress.

China's human rights record has for years been a source of dispute with Western governments. China routinely dismisses Western complaints about its rights record.

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it was "deeply disturbed" by reports of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang region and there must be serious consequences for atrocities.

China denies accusations of abuses in Xinjiang, and has said complexes it set up in the region provided vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism. Those in the facilities have since "graduated", it says.

The idea of an Olympic boycott is fraught political territory for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and for corporate sponsors of the Games.

The U.S. adminstration has signalled that it has no plans to bar U.S. athletes from taking part in Beijing 2022.

"We're not currently talking about changing our posture or our plans as it relates to the Beijing Olympics," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing this week. 

Germany's Danny aus den Birken (R) saves a shot in front of Canada's Rene Bourque (C) in the men's semi-final ice hockey match between Canada and Germany during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung on February 23, 2018. [AFP PHOTO / Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV]