Australia joins diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics

Australian officials will not attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, while New Zealand has said diplomatic representatives at a ministerial level will not be sent because of Covid-19.

The US this week confirmed it would not send any diplomats or officials to the Games, while still allowing its athletes to compete.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australian athletes would compete at the Games despite the diplomatic boycott.

The formal boycott of the Games is said to be over China's human rights abuses against Uyghur minorities in the country.

Morrison said it should come as "no surprise" that Australian diplomats and politicians would boycott the event, citing the breakdown in the relationship with China in recent years.

"I'm doing it because it's in Australia's national interest," he said. "It's the right thing to do."

Morrison said Beijing's own diplomatic freeze on Australia had also fed into the decision for officials to boycott the Games, because Australia had been unable to raise its concerns about human rights directly with Chinese leaders.

"We have been .. very happy to talk to the Chinese government about these issues and there has been no obstacle to that occurring on our side," he said.

"But the Chinese government has consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about those issues.

"So it's not surprising therefore that Australian government officials would not be going to China for those Games."

The Games begin in February next year.

The ABC has confirmed the boycott will extend to Australian officials who are already in China.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), which expects to send about 40 athletes to the Games, said the decision was a "matter for government" and that athletes were focused on competing in Beijing.

"Getting the athletes to Beijing safely, competing safely and bringing them home safely remains our greatest challenge," AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said.

"Our Australian athletes have been training and competing with this Olympic dream for four years now and we are doing everything in our power to ensure we can help them succeed.

"Human rights are extremely important, but the considered view of diplomats is that keeping channels of communication open is far more impactful than shutting them down."

Earlier this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the US government would boycott the Games in light of China's "ongoing genocide" and "crimes against humanity" in Xinjiang.

Uyghur representatives outside China have long called for the Games to be relocated.

Backbenchers on both sides of Australian politics have pressed for a diplomatic boycott, and are predicting that several other countries will follow suit.

New Zealand has already said it will not send any officials to the Games, although it has not linked that decision to human rights issues.

But the move is certain to further inflame tensions between Australia and China.

The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated further in recent months, after Defence Minister Peter Dutton declared that Beijing saw other countries in the region as "tributary states" and said it was "inconceivable" Australia wouldn't help defend Taiwan if there was a conflict between the United States and China over the self-ruled island.

Beijing has already lashed out at the United States over its diplomatic boycott, and warned it will take "counter-measures" against Washington.

Human rights groups have welcomed Australia's announcement, but are pressing the federal government to do more to target Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

China director at Human Rights Watch Sophie Richardson said the boycott was "a crucial step toward challenging the Chinese government's crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities".

"But this shouldn't be the only action," she said.

"Australia should now redouble efforts with like-minded governments to investigate and map out pathways to accountability for those responsible for these crimes and justice for the survivors."