Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news
conference that “We have no plans to send a government delegation.”
He said Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee President Seiko
Hashimoto, Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita and Kazuyuki
Mori, the president of the Japan Paralympic Committee, will attend.
Matsuno said the three officials are attending at the
invitation of the International Olympic and Paralympic Committees to represent
the JOC and IPC.
Asked if it’s a diplomatic boycott, Matsuno responded by
saying: “We don’t use a particular term to describe how we attend.”
Japan’s decision not to send a government delegation follows
a move by the United States and a few other democratic nations including
Australia, Britain and Canada, which cited China’s human rights violations.
Japan, as a U.S. ally and considering its biggest trade
partner is China, is in a difficult position and has taken a softer approach
than its western partners on human rights situations in China’s Xinjiang region
and Hong Kong.
Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made human rights a
key part of his diplomacy and created a special advisory position to tackle the
issue and has said he hopes to make a constructive relations with China. He has
been repeatedly asked what to do about the Beijing Olympics in recent weeks but
only said he was to make a decision comprehensively for Japan’s national
interest.
“Japan believes that it is important for China to guarantee
the universal values of freedom, respect for basic human rights, and the rule
of law, which are universal values in the international community,” Matsuno
said. Japan took those points into consideration to make its own decision, he
added.
China has criticized the United States and other countries
for violating political neutrality required in the spirit of the Olympic
Charter.
Japanese athletes will take part in the Games beginning Feb.
4 as scheduled.
“Japan hopes the Beijing Olympics will be held as the
festival of peace in the spirit of Olympics and Paralympics,” Matsuno said.
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