Visitors pose for a selfie with a statue containing the Olympic rings at a park near the headquarters for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) in Beijing, on Dec. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan will not send a government delegation to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the top government spokesman said Friday, a decision seen as in line with the U.S.-led diplomatic boycott of the sporting spectacle over China's human rights record.
But Japanese athletes will attend the February games as scheduled, according to government sources. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Japan will send Seiko Hashimoto, a House of Councillors lawmaker and president of the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics held this summer, and two others.
The two are Japanese Olympic Committee head Yasuhiro Yamashita and Japanese Paralympic Committee chief Kazuyuki Mori. Matsuno did not say the decision represents a diplomatic boycott, telling a press conference that the government "does not have a special term" to describe the move.
The announcement was made by Matsuno rather than Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as Japan tries not to directly provoke the Chinese leadership, especially as Japan and China are set to mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations in 2022, according to the sources.
The United States and other countries such as Australia, Britain and Canada have announced similar measures.
The Japanese government gave up on a plan to send senior officials to the Beijing Games because it has seen little improvement in the human rights situations in the far-western Xinjiang region and Hong Kong, the sources said.
Kishida attaches importance to human rights as a major pillar of Japan's diplomacy.
China has criticized the United States and other countries for their handling of the Beijing Olympics, saying politicizing sports is against the spirit of the Olympic Charter.
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