The US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – they have all already decided to diplomatically boycott the Beijing Olympics. A decision is still pending in Germany.
The human rights policy spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, Michael Brand (48), calls on the Federal Government around Chancellor Olaf Scholz (63, SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (40, Greens) to politically boycott the Olympic Games in China.
“The new federal government will have to use an important example to demonstrate for the first time how important human rights really are to them,” Brand told BILD am SONNTAG.
“To show yourself at Olympia, a festival of peace and understanding next to the autocrat Xi, who has been tortured and killed, would be a scandal,” continued Brand. “Putin and others fit in there, but no Western democrats. It’s about upholding the principles of our German policy – and not betraying human rights because China is a big market. “
FDP external expert Frank Müller-Rosentritt (39) also calls for consequences: “In view of the massive violations of international law and human rights in China, the Olympic Games cannot simply take place at the diplomatic level as they did in the past, despite all the appreciation for the athletes’ performance.” so Müller-Rosentritt to BILD.
“It takes a strong symbol from the Western community of values to point out the unacceptable behavior of the Chinese Communist Party – what exactly this symbol looks like has to be discussed at the highest political level so that we can act as one on a European level, closely coordinated with our transatlantic partners as we have stated in the coalition agreement. “
The green China expert Reinhard Bütikofer (68) sees it similarly. “I am glad that the European Parliament has already positioned itself with an overwhelming majority in favor of a diplomatic boycott,” Bütikofer told BILD. “It would not be a good signal for German China policy if German politicians were pushing each other to fill the void that others are opening up through the diplomatic boycott.”
He noted that the Federal President will not attend the Olympics, Bütikofer continued. “It’s not a boycott, but that he won’t be there is an important signal.”
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