World News for Students of English

14-12-2021 07:00

Australia will join the US in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to protest China’s reported human rights abuses,and people say that this will further worsen the relationship between the two countries.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morisson said that Australia had consistently asked China about its human rights abuses and many other issues; however, the Chinese government had not accepted opportunities to meet about them. Therefore, he said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Australian officials wouldn’t go to China for the Olympics.

Morisson’s choice makes Australia the first major country to follow the US in deciding against sending officials to the spectacle starting on February 4, while both countries will still allow their athletes to go. The US’s diplomatic boycott left many US partners trying to balance the relationship with the US’s security and China’s trade.

Difficult words: boycott (to withdraw from commercial or social work with a country or organization as a punishment or protest), spectacle (an event that attracts attention or interest), diplomatic (the management of relationships between countries).

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