No diplomats from major Western countries attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, showing the reality of growing tensions between China and the West.

In fact, the Beijing Winter Olympics, not attended by Western diplomats, does not have any difference from the previous Winter Olympics. Neither China nor western athletes care about that. There isn’t any western athlete say to the media that her/his impression of the Beijing Winter Olympics has deteriorated because their country’s president or prime minister did not attend the opening ceremony.

Therefore, what needs to be considered is the “diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Winter Olympics effective?

It is known to all what the reason for this “diplomatic boycott” is. There is an opinion in an article by ARD Fernsehen that China’s poor human rights record on issues such as Hong Kong and Xinjiang caused the rising voices calling for a boycott of the Winter Olympics. But few people seriously consider whether the Olympic Games and human rights issues are necessarily connected. Boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics is a waste of time if there is no necessary connection.

Take the Xinjiang issue as an example. Medias are talking about genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Some considered that China can only show the real picture if it is more open to the Xinjiang issue. But doubts remain. There are two obvious signs of this problem.

First of all, although the United Nations Human Rights Council has discussed this topic, Bachelet, the head of the Council, and human-right experts are currently considering visiting Xinjiang in person. They still have doubts about what happened in Xinjiang, so they want to see it.

Secondly, few Muslim countries have a clear attitude towards this issue. Even the leaders of the five Central Asian countries (Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan) and the Prime Minister of Pakistan were all guests at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. These Muslim countries don’t think their Uyghur compatriots are persecuted or plunged into genocide in China. Could it be true that Western governments are genuinely discussing the Xinjiang issue without any political purpose?

So is the issue of Hong Kong, which shows that there are loopholes in boycotting the Winter Olympics on human rights grounds.

It’s not feasible for the West to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics, because the Winter Olympics have no necessary correlation to China’s human rights issues.

Of course, people may criticize China in the field of human rights, such as making various statements and resolutions on Hong Kong and Xinjiang issues to express respect for human rights. But boycotting the Winter Olympics is irrational. The reason is simple. Can boycotting the Winter Olympics improve China’s human-right situation? Will China change its attitude on Xinjiang and Hong Kong issues because Biden, Macron, Johnson did not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics?

So how to change China’s attitude in the field of human rights?

There is a better way to promote the progress of human rights in China through contacts and communications with China. Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics is not only pointless, but counterproductive.

Imagining that if politicians from Western countries attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing and meet with Xi Jinping, this is the best occasion to express Western views to the world, and it is also the last occasion for China to openly break with the West. Western pledges to the idea of ​​human rights and concern for Xinjiang and Hong Kong issues can be spread more widely through the Winter Olympics. Obviously, this is far more effective in promoting human rights in places like Xinjiang and Hong Kong than diplomatic boycotts.

It was a pity that Biden and others missed the opportunity. They can only sit in front of the television and watch Xi Jinping and Putin chatting and laughing, and there is no good way to promote exchanges between China and the West.

The human rights issue in China really needs the world’s attention. Many people, are concerned about the situation of Hong Kong people and ethnic minorities in China. Westerners should spend their time in Beijing as much as possible to reach out to Xi and Putin, instead of announcing not participating in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics a month in advance.

Of course, in addition to human rights issues, some people hold the view that the Beijing Winter Olympics have no concept of sustainable development, use artificial snowfall, and are not environmentally friendly. If these are true, the criticism is justifiable.

People should pay attention to the fact that the Beijing Winter Olympics is not only for the Chinese people, but jointly organized by the whole world. The officials and advisors of the Beijing Organizing Committee of Olympic Games(BOCOG) are not entirely Chinese, there are also many Westerners, especially various human resources support from the International Olympic Committee(IOC). Many of them have given professional suggestions and opinions in the fields of venue planning, environmental protection, and sports development.

If the IOC and many of our Western experts do not consider artificial snowfall and the sustainability of the Winter Olympics as a problem then the concerns of non-experts are overdone.

At the same time, while criticizing and questioning China, we should not give up engagement and exchanges with China. The Beijing Winter Olympics is a good occasion, but we fail to seize this opportunity.