The measure will not prevent Canadian athletes from participating in the Games, which start on February 4, but will mean that no government representative travels to China, stressed the president.
The United States announced the boycott on Monday and was seconded on Wednesday by Australia and UK.
“It is important to partner with allies in the world when you have an anti-China approach,” Trudeau stressed.
The relationships between Canada Y China They have moments of tension and both countries have just emerged from an unprecedented diplomatic crisis related to the arrest in December 2018 of the daughter of the founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.
The Chinese authorities responded to this situation with retaliatory measures.
– The United Kingdom also joins the boycott –
Earlier, the United Kingdom had joined the measure promoted by U.S and supported by Australia.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had stated in the weekly question session in Parliament that “there will indeed be a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.”
However, British athletes will go to the jousts, because the United Kingdom “He does not support sports boycotts,” he said. However, he stressed that none of his ministers plans to attend.
There are many sources of tension between London and Beijing, from the human rights situation in the Xinjiang region – the cradle of the Uighur Muslim minority in the north-west of the country-, the decline in freedoms in the former British colony of Hong Kong and the exclusion of the Chinese giant Huawei from the British 5G telecommunications network.
Before the deputies, Johnson assured that he regularly raises the issue of human rights before representatives of the Chinese government, at the center of the decision of Western countries.
Beijing has yet to react to the British announcement, but had previously expressed anger at the US decision and contempt when Australian authorities joined on Wednesday.
– “The United States will pay” –
The Australian government joined the initiative two days after Washington, citing the series of disagreements they have with Beijing and the human rights situation in the communist country.
“Australia will not deviate from a strong position in defense of the interests of Australia, and it is obviously no surprise that we will not send Australian representatives to these Games, “said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
Asked during a press conference, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, assured that his country had never intended to invite Australian authorities.
“Nobody cares whether they come or not,” he said. “His political maneuvers and his little tricks will not change anything to the success of the Olympic Games,” he added.
