The IOC says it stays out of politics. But what is happening in Xinjiang is a fundamental matter of human rights<\/p>
The financial crisis of 2008<\/a> was the moment which cemented both China\u2019s rise and its growing confidence as the west faltered. But the Olympics<\/a> held in Beijing a few months earlier was the global symbol of its ascendancy: a coming-out party which proclaimed its return to the forefront of political and economic power, greeted with genuine international enthusiasm, despite the misgivings of dissidents<\/a>.<\/p> Fewer will celebrate the Winter Games<\/a> due to kick off in Beijing in February. Last week, the UK and Canada joined the US and Australia in announcing a diplomatic boycott,<\/a> and New Zealand has said it will not send anyone of ministerial level \u2013 to the wrath of China, which warned that countries will \u201cpay a price\u201d for the decision. (France will participate as usual, with Emmanuel Macron<\/a> describing the boycott as \u201cinsignificant\u201d<\/a>, and much of Europe remains undecided<\/a>). Concern for tennis champion and three-time Olympian Peng Shuai<\/a>, since she alleged that a former senior leader had coerced her into sex, have magnified attention to China\u2019s human rights record \u2013 and to the International Olympic Committee<\/a>\u2019s keenness to reassure the world that there is nothing to worry about<\/a>, a repeated pattern<\/a>.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n