Japan PM Kishida says he has no plan to visit Beijing Olympics

thesundaily -- Dec 16

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he has no plan to attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing at the moment, taking what appeared to be a softer tone than Western allies who have declared a diplomatic boycott.

The issue of whether Japan will send senior officials to the Games in February is in focus after the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain all said their officials will not attend in order to send China a message over its human rights record.

China has called the boycotts “political posturing” and a smear campaign.

Kishida made the comment in parliament.