sydney australia will join the united states in a diplomatic boycott of the winter olympic games in beijing prime minister scott morrison said on wednesday as other allies weighed similar moves to protest chinas human rights recordthe united states on monday said its government officials will boycott the beijing olympics because of chinas human rights atrocities just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the two superpowerschina said the us will pay the price for its decision and warned of resolute countermeasures in responsemorrison said the decision was made because of australias struggles to reopen diplomatic channels with china to discuss alleged human rights abuses in xinjiang and beijings moves to slow and block imports of australian goodsa spokesperson from chinas embassy in canberra said some australian politicians were engaged in political posturingthe blame for the current predicament of chinaaustralia relations lies squarely on the australian side they added in an online statementother allies have been slow to commit to joining the diplomatic boycottbritain is considering approving limited government attendance at the feb 420 beijing olympics that would stop short of a full diplomatic boycott the telegraph reported on wednesdayan outright ban on ministerial and diplomatic representation at the winter games remains a possibility the report saidjapan is considering not sending cabinet members to the beijing winter olympics after the united states announced its diplomatic boycott japans sankei shimbun daily reported on wednesday citing unnamed government sourcespresident joe bidens administration cited what the united states calls genocide against minority muslims in chinas far western region of xinjiang china denies all rights abuseschinese foreign ministry spokesman zhao lijian on tuesday told a media briefing that his country opposes the us diplomatic boycott and promised resolute countermeasures in responsethe united states will pay a price for its mistaken acts he said without giving details lets all wait and seethe winter games are due to begin about six months after the conclusion of the summer games in tokyo which were delayed a year because of the covid19 pandemicwe always ask for as much respect as possible and least possible interference from the political world said juan antonio samaranch the iocs coordination commission chief for the beijing olympics we have to be reciprocal we respect the political decisions taken by political bodiesthe united states is set to host the 2028 summer olympics in los angeles and is preparing a bid to host the 2030 winter olympics in salt lake cityasked whether china would consider a diplomatic boycott of olympic games in the united states zhao said the us boycott has damaged the foundation and atmosphere of sports exchange and cooperation on the olympicsthe american diplomatic boycott encouraged for months by some members of the us congress and rights groups comes despite an effort to stabilize ties between the worlds two largest economies with a video meeting last month between biden and chinas xi jinpingthe only optionbonnie glaser a china expert at the german marshall fund of the united states told a us