The European Union will attempt on Monday to reach a common position on the United States’ call for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, but positions seemed very divided at the start of a meeting of its business ministers foreigners in Brussels.
Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has announced that he will not be visiting Beijing, but he is skeptical about a common European position.
“I am always in favor of a European approach, but sometimes it is difficult to find”, he regretted before the start of the meeting.
Asked about his position if the EU cannot come to an agreement, he said: “I am not going”. Relations between Vilnius and Beijing have been strained since the decision to open a Taiwanese representation in Lithuania.
His Luxembourg counterpart, Jean Asselborn, found a diplomatic boycott of little use. “I share France’s position,” he said. French President Emmanuel Macron ruled that a purely diplomatic boycott would be “a very small and symbolic measure”. “The Olympics are always political, there are no politically neutral Olympics. As a European citizen, I wonder if it is right to send athletes to China and for political leaders to watch on television, ”explained Jean Asselborn.
Austria’s Alexander Schallenberg also expressed doubts about an “artificial politicization of the Olympics”. “I have a point of view similar to that of President Macron, but it would be good for Europe to adopt a unified line on this subject,” he said.
“The Olympics are a celebration of sport. You shouldn’t take the opportunity to play politics, ”German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
The United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have decided on a “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Olympics to denounce human rights violations in China, especially in its predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang (North West). The Chinese regime has warned that they will pay “the price”.