Louisa Wall and Simon O'Connor call on Government to boycott games

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Labour MP Louisa Wall at the Big Gay Out. Photo / NZME

Pressure is mounting on the Government to join a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next year led by the United States.

Even one of Labour's own MPs, Louisa Wall, who has a history of dissenting with her party, has urged Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Sports Minister Grant Robertson to join the boycott.

A diplomatic boycott would mean athletes still attending the games, but would bar Government officials from going.

Wall and National MP Simon O'Connor put their names to a letter sent in their capacity as co-chairs of the New Zealand chapter of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of Parliamentarians who take a hawkish view on the CCP.

They said it was "unthinkable" that the Olympics should continue as normal, and called on the Government to confirm it would not accept any invitations to the Olympics and any associated events because of human rights concerns.

The letter cited the crackdown in Hong Kong abuses against Uyghurs, including the "internment of at least one million individuals, widespread forced labour and mass forced sterilisation".

The letter said that not participating in a boycott would "only lend further legitimacy to the Chinese government's efforts to whitewash the abuses taking place in the Uyghur Region and elsewhere".

"It is right that sport should stay above politics, but this does not permit turning a blind eye to industrial-scale human rights abuses".

Wall told the Herald that the boycott paralleled similar boycotts of apartheid South Africa.

"Sport is an incredibly honest domain. There's nowhere to hide on the sports field. This is the same thing. We're fighting against authoritarianism because we're fighting for democracy," she said.

Robertson said that New Zealand will not be sending any political representation to the games. He said diplomatic staff would help athletes on the ground, but this was different to being guests of China and the games.

"We've already made clear that we won't be represented at a ministerial level - for us that's a decision we've already made," Robertson said.

However, Robertson acknowledged this decision was not mainly to do with human rights - the reason the United States and Australia are boycotting.

"[There are a] range of factors, but mostly to do with Covid and the fact the logistics of travel around Covid are not conducive to that kind of trip - but we've made clear to China on numerous occasions our concerns about human rights issues," Robertson said.

Robertson said deciding to join the boycott was a purely hypothetical question as the decision to give the games a miss had already been made.

Wall called on Robertson to go further and tell China the reason ministers and diplomats would not attend was because "we are standing up against the human rights abuses that are currently happening".

Participating nations are meant to put aside political disputes during the Olympics, although politics often makes its way into the games anyway.

Twenty-eight African nations boycotted the 1976 Olympics because of New Zealand's attendance; those nations were protesting New Zealand's continued sporting relations with apartheid South Africa.

Those boycotts, however, involved the country pulling out of the games altogether - the Beijing boycott is limited to diplomatic representation.

New Zealand was one of many nations to sign up to the "Olympic Truce" for the games last week. The truce is a longstanding tradition intended to stop conflict disrupting the games.

New Zealand was notably absent from a group of nations who opted not to sign the truce, citing Chinese human rights abuses, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, refused to sign the resolution.

Louisa Wall is known for her stands against China. Cartoon / Guy Body

A spokesperson for MFAT said the Government " made the decision not to attend at a ministerial level some time ago.

"We share concerns about the human rights situation and have been consistent in raising these issues with China.

"We often don't attend Winter Games at ministerial level, and especially in light of the global Covid situation, there are no plans to do so on this occasion. A small New Zealand team of athletes and an accompanying support team will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics," they said.

"The New Zealand Olympic Committee has sought accreditation for a small number of Embassy staff, including the Ambassador, to provide consular support to the team, should it be needed, as is standard practice for this kind of event. No decisions have been taken on attendance beyond this," they said.