Japan will not send a mission of government representatives to Beijing Winter Olympics 20222, but yes to representatives of the National Olympic Committee along with Japanese athletes, the Government announced.

“We will not send government representatives,” a Japanese spokesman said Friday. Hirokazu Matsuno, at the press conference, after announcing that Japan will send three members of the Japanese Olympic and Paralympic Committee in response to an invitation made by the International Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

They will travel to an international sports competition Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee; Yasuhiro Yamashita, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee; you Kazuyuki Mori, president of the Japan Paralympic Committee, according to the spokesman.

“It was a self-made decision,” he explained. Matsuno when asked whether this decision had been consulted with other countries, in connection with the diplomatic boycott announced by the United States considering that the Chinese government is committing human rights violations in Xinjiang.

Matsuno He did not use the word “boycott” to describe the Japanese government’s move and stressed that this decision “has no special terms.”

“Japan works directly to explain to China our position, because it is important that universal values ​​are guaranteed in the international community, including freedom and human rights,” the spokesman replied when asked about the reason for not sending government representatives to the country. Beijing 2022.

“The Olympics and Paralympics are a celebration of peace and a sport that shows courage to the world,” he continued. Matsuno, to further underline that “Japan hopes that these Games will be held peacefully and under the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Japan It will thus try not to align itself directly with the US-led diplomatic boycott that Canada, Australia and the UK have joined.

Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, has announced that he has no plans to travel to attend the competition.

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