Japan sought to strike a diplomatic balance Friday in its relationships with both its top ally and its top trading partner, with the government announcing that Tokyo will not dispatch its representatives to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in part due to human rights concerns.
Instead, the government will send Yasuhiro Yamashita, the Japanese Olympic Committee president; Seiko Hashimoto, an Upper House lawmaker and the president of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Games; and Kazuyuki Mori, president of the Japan Paralympic Committee.
“Japan believes that it is important that the universal values of freedom, respect for basic human rights and the rule of law be guaranteed in China, and we have been working directly with the Chinese side at various levels to promote this position held by Japan,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.