{"id":69204,"date":"2021-12-08T14:30:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=69204"},"modified":"2021-12-08T14:25:14","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:25:14","slug":"breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done the right thing: he\u2019s announced Australia will join a diplomatic boycott<\/a> of the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

While it couldn\u2019t be taken for granted, this wasn\u2019t really a hard decision for the Australian government.<\/p>\n

The government won\u2019t need to turn off ministers\u2019 flight arrangements to Beijing. And it would simply make no sense for Australian government officials to be seen celebrating Beijing hosting this major international sporting event at time when Australian citizens like newsreader Cheng Lei<\/a> and writer Yang Hengjun<\/a> are detained in China and Beijing is using its trade relationship with us as a weapon.<\/p>\n

Morrison has joined US President Joe Biden\u2019s diplomatic boycott<\/a> because of the Chinese government\u2019s large-scale human rights abuses against its own citizens in places like Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and more broadly through arbitrary arrest, silencing and detention of other Chinese citizens and of foreigners in mainland China.<\/p>\n

Other governments are likely to join, but the real power lies with the athletes themselves. That may have dawned on Chinese officials involved in stage-managing this peak prestige event for Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s decision was probably in the \u2018must do\u2019 bucket for his administration, given human rights are at the centre of its foreign policy<\/a>. That\u2019s why Xi had tried to stop him from making it. At their recent summit, Xi told Biden<\/a> that China would \u2018safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development\u2019 and the US should \u2018carefully handle issues related to this\u2019 and not impinge on China\u2019s \u2018core interests\u2019. Xi was saying the US needed to pay this price for future summits to be realised. And Chinese officials threatened<\/a> the US with \u2018countermeasures\u2019 if a boycott occurred.<\/p>\n

Biden has clearly refused Xi\u2019s instruction and terms of engagement and hasn\u2019t been cowed by Beijing\u2019s threats.<\/p>\n

For Australia, further threats against trade risk damaging China\u2019s economy more than ours (as we\u2019ve seen already with coal), but the prospect should motivate every Australian company to continue to diversify away from the China market.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic boycott is the right decision for Australia and any country that values human rights. We could take the extra step, though, of not having our athletes fly the Australian flag\u2014like Malcolm Fraser did for the 1980 Moscow Olympics<\/a>, when the Australian team marched under the Olympic flag.<\/p>\n

In some ways, it\u2019s a harder test for other governments, such as Germany\u2019s new coalition. There, the Greens<\/a>, who now hold the foreign ministry, have spoken about Germany taking a clearer, stronger line on human rights and China\u2014for the same reasons Biden announced the US boycott. Now\u2019s a moment to see if this matters from the position of government and not just while campaigning.<\/p>\n

New Zealand took the odd decision of telling Beijing back in October that it wouldn\u2019t send ministerial-level representatives, but saying publicly<\/a> now that \u2018a range of factors\u2019 were behind the decision, which was \u2018mostly to do with Covid\u2019. That \u2018depurposes\u2019 the decision, which should be about values and principles.<\/p>\n

The question that probably needs asking is not who joins the boycott, but who doesn\u2019t. This a test about whether a government can just look away from the nature of the Chinese regime because of the fear of economic and political consequences.<\/p>\n

Here, there\u2019s no refuge in Olympic values and sport being beyond politics. For the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s leaders, the 2022 Winter Olympics is all about politics and prestige\u2014projecting an image of a successful, strong China at the centre of global events and drawing in the world\u2019s governments and leaders to celebrate that success and power, all centred on Xi.<\/p>\n

If you doubt that China\u2019s leaders think sport matters to politics, there\u2019s the case of tennis star Peng Shuai and her silencing for having the courage to tell the world that a former member of the CCP\u2019s Politburo sexually abused her.<\/p>\n

Peng understood the consequences of speaking about this in mainland China, saying<\/a>: \u2018Even if I\u2019m an egg throwing myself at a rock, even if I\u2019m a moth flying at a flame, courting my own destruction, I will still speak the truth of us.\u2019<\/p>\n

She\u2019s been controlled by Chinese authorities from the moment her words made it to international media organisations, to protect the party by hiding inconvenient truths.<\/p>\n

Which raises something more important than what any particular national government does or doesn\u2019t do about the jarring gap between the vision of the Olympics unifying humanity and the reality of the Chinese state\u2019s exercise of power over anyone it has within its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

What might athletes choose to do before, during and after the Games? There are some parallels here with the response to forced labour. Forced labour<\/a> from Xinjiang has found its way into the supply chains of many major international companies, from clothing firms to big tech outfits. And consumers and customers of these companies have been using their buying power to push for change.<\/p>\n

This \u2018people power\u2019 may turn out to be more influential on company structures, operations and plans for engaging with China than even concerted policy from groups of governments. In combination, things will move more.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee has done its best to minimise any connections being made between Peng and sport, and China more generally. Their way to do this is to profess a \u2018person-centred<\/a>\u2019 approach\u2014code for \u2018move on, there\u2019s nothing to see here\u2019. So, Biden\u2019s boycott decision is awkward news for the IOC message managers.<\/p>\n

Despite the IOC\u2019s efforts, it\u2019s the athletes who matter. Tennis has some lessons for Winter Olympic sports. We\u2019ve already seen the Women\u2019s Tennis Association<\/a> and international tennis stars<\/a> speak up in support of Peng\u2014iconic figures like Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert-Lloyd and men\u2019s world number one Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

Imagine the effect of simple gestures of solidarity with the victims of abusive Chinese state power from numerous individual athletes and even some teams at and after the Beijing Games. Not much has to be done to be graphic and noteworthy in that hypercontrolled, hypersensitive environment.<\/p>\n

Xi and other occupants of Beijing\u2019s \u00a0Zhongnanhai<\/a> leadership compound already see pictures of Winnie the Pooh<\/a> as dangerous indicators of rebellion against CCP rule, and China\u2019s 1.4 billion people are adept at reading political signs in arcane images and word choices. Like the Pooh pictures, these take off as viral memes until spotted and censored by authorities, with occasional renewed outbreaks.<\/p>\n

A cap with a picture of an egg and a rock on it would be enough to evoke Peng\u2019s allegations and troubles. An egg on a press conference table would do the same. A hand over an athlete\u2019s own mouth during a press conference would bring to mind the three wise monkeys<\/a> and send an unmistakable message about censorship, silencing and looking away. There are many memes that motivated minds can make, use and have spotted by audiences across the world.<\/p>\n

How odd that pictures on caps and elliptic references to fables could so disturb the powerful.<\/p>\n

IOC rules<\/a> adopted for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics discourage protests during actual events or medal ceremonies but recognise athletes\u2019 freedom to express personal views in press conferences and on social media. Theoretically, the IOC could act against an athlete or athletes for breaches\u2014just as it did by banning<\/a> two US athletes who protested against racism at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.<\/p>\n

So, Beijing has the choice to pressure and intimidate foreign athletes to stop them from saying anything or censor them live if they do so. Some national Olympic team organisations may try to help. Beijing also has the \u2018nuclear option\u2019\u2014the threat of arbitrary arrest is real, just as the Australian government\u2019s travel advisory<\/a> for China warns, and so is an earlier trip to the airport than an athlete planned.<\/p>\n

But think beyond March next year, when the Olympics are over. The stories of odd Chinese government and security apparatus efforts to manage dangerous ideas during the Games will simply be out of Beijing\u2019s control. It\u2019s always the cover-up, not the crime, that makes a story.<\/p>\n

And would the IOC really want to act against individual athletes over these principles and beliefs?<\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019ll see principled athletes apply the Olympic values of \u2018excellence, friendship and respect<\/a>\u2019 in ways we can admire and which give comfort to those under Beijing\u2019s authoritarian control.<\/p>\n

Maybe this will be through subtle but unmistakable references and symbols that we can all recognise and celebrate.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m interested to see which governments join Australia and the US. But perhaps government leaders and officials not showing up is just a precursor to something larger, more human and more creative.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019d want to be a censor or minder having to show Xi the latest cartoon, cap or confiscated boiled egg?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done the right thing: he\u2019s announced Australia will join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses. While it couldn\u2019t be taken …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":766,"featured_media":69209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2212,294,249,687],"class_list":["post-69204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia-china-relations","tag-diplomacy","tag-human-rights","tag-olympic-games"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBreaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done the right thing: he\u2019s announced Australia will join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses. While it couldn\u2019t be taken ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-08T03:30:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-08T03:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Shoebridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Shoebridge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"breaking egg in high speed photography\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-08T03:30:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-08T03:25:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/b7802124e14835ff19b5c244e962849f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/b7802124e14835ff19b5c244e962849f\",\"name\":\"Michael Shoebridge\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad669e65739d5a3f4bbc0e839d8a6b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad669e65739d5a3f4bbc0e839d8a6b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Shoebridge\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/michael-shoebridge\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist","og_description":"Prime Minister Scott Morrison has done the right thing: he\u2019s announced Australia will join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics because of the Chinese government\u2019s human rights abuses. While it couldn\u2019t be taken ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2021-12-08T03:30:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-08T03:25:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Shoebridge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Shoebridge","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-500526073.jpg","width":1000,"height":720,"caption":"breaking egg in high speed photography"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/","name":"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-12-08T03:30:44+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-08T03:25:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/b7802124e14835ff19b5c244e962849f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/breaking-eggs-australias-beijing-boycott-a-good-step-but-the-real-power-lies-with-athletes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Breaking eggs: Australia\u2019s Beijing boycott a good step but the real power lies with athletes"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/b7802124e14835ff19b5c244e962849f","name":"Michael Shoebridge","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad669e65739d5a3f4bbc0e839d8a6b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad669e65739d5a3f4bbc0e839d8a6b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Shoebridge"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/michael-shoebridge\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/766"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69204"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69207,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69204\/revisions\/69207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}