Raab says UK boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics possible over Uighur abuses

Britain may not be able to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 if evidence mounts of the abuse of Uighur Muslims in China, the foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said.

Appearing in front of the foreign affairs select committee, Raab was asked about the possibility of Britain skipping the event in protest at human rights abuses. “Generally speaking, my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics, but there comes a point when it is not possible,” said Raab.

“Let’s consider in the round what further action we need to take,” he added.

Raab also said that the attendance of prominent figures such as the Duke of Cambridge at the Games would also have to be “looked at very carefully”.

Raab told MPs he was considering imposing economic sanctions on the officials responsible for the repression.

He said China was guilty of gross and egregious human rights abuses against the Uighur people in Xinjiang including forced sterilisation, adding “our concern can only be growing”.

Raab’s warning came as a growing alliance of countries – now reaching 39 — at the UN human rights council on Tuesday called for an independent inquiry into what is happening to the Uighur people. The resolution was tabled by Germany and supported by the UK.

A similar motion in June did not attract as much support, but countries joining the alliance since then include Bosnia, Spain Italy and Poland.

Raab in front of the foreign affairs select committee stopped short of describing the treatment of the Uighurs as genocide, pointing out that the legal threshold for proof of genocide was not just a destruction of a minority, but also an intent to destroy.

Uighurs could be allowed to seek genocide ruling against China in UK

Read more

“The more we see of the evidence and the more the international community addresses its mind to it, the more I think we do need to think very carefully at what action we take,” he said.

The concerns of what is happening to the Uighurs – the detention, the mistreatment and the forced sterilisation – is not something we can just turn away from”.

Raab also criticised some Muslim countries for being reluctant to criticise the Chinese. “Obviously China has huge heft economically and politically, and the question is the extent to which that is eclipsing others from speaking out when you thought they might, should and would,” he said.

The 39-country joint statement states: “We have seen an increasing number of reports of gross human rights violations. There are severe restrictions on freedom of religion or belief and the freedoms of movement, association and expression as well as on Uighur culture.

Widespread surveillance disproportionately continues to target Uighurs and other minorities and more reports are emerging of forced labour and forced birth control including sterilisation”.

It also calls on “China to allow immediate, meaningful and unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers including the UN high commissioner for human rights and her office, and relevant special procedure mandate holders”.