After the United States, Great Britain and Australia have also announced that they will not send government officials to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the London House of Commons on Wednesday: “There will in effect be a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games in Beijing.

No minister or government official is expected to attend. ”At the same time, Johnson said he believed sports boycotts were wrong.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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The reason given by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was that China has not given Australia an opportunity in the past to hold meetings where "human rights violations in Xinjiang and many other issues" could be addressed.

It is therefore “not surprising” that no political delegation from Canberra will travel to Beijing in February.

Australian athletes would take part in the games.

Morrison did not pronounce the word “boycott”.

Most other countries are still keeping a low profile on this issue. In fact, it has long been clear that only a few heads of state or government or sports ministers will take part in the Winter Olympics. This is also due to the Chinese government's strict corona measures for visitors. For example, Beijing has categorically refused travel by advance teams for security checks, which makes it impossible for most heads of state and government to travel there. In addition, the politicians should not even be allowed to meet the athletes in their own country during their stay. High-profile photos with Olympic champions are therefore not available. Personal meetings with Chinese ministers, company bosses or citizens of their own country living in China are also not planned."Instead, virtual meetings are encouraged," says the Chinese government's regulations for foreign dignitaries.

Health information in the "My 2022" app

The extent to which China's President Xi Jinping or Prime Minister Li Keqiang are ready for meetings is not recorded in it.

It's probably a matter of negotiation.

How great Xi Jinping's fear of infection must be can be seen from the fact that he has not met with a foreign head of state for almost two years.

The visiting heads of state and government should not be allowed to leave the "bubble" that was created around the Olympic sites, nor should they take a trip to the Olympic sites outside of Beijing.

"No contact with the public or anyone outside the bubble," says the rules.

This poses a problem: traveling heads of government or ministers are usually accompanied by their country's ambassador and other embassy staff. In Beijing, this will only be possible if the diplomats then go to hotel quarantine for two weeks and home quarantine for another week. Few ambassadors are likely to feel like it.

Another restriction: only visits by heads of state or government or ministers who are responsible for sport are allowed. Neither deputies or spouses of heads of state or government nor ministers of economics are welcome during the Olympic Games. An arrangement like the one at the Summer Games in Tokyo, where the American first lady Jill Biden stood in for her husband, is therefore not possible. “Other prominent government officials” should only attend the Paralympic Games.

All delegation members, including kings, presidents and chancellors, are supposed to inform the authorities of their body temperature and state of health via an app called “My 2022” two weeks prior to arrival.

If the temperature of the visitors is more than 37.3 degrees on the day of the opening ceremony, they would be denied access to the stadium according to the rules and they would have to stay in the hotel room.

The heads of state and government are only allowed to enter quarantine-free if they have already received a booster vaccination and can show a negative test before departure.

After landing, your luggage will be disinfected.

Better safe than sorry.