Pakistan PM to attend Beijing Olympics in show of ‘solidarity’ with China amid West’s diplomatic boycott

ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the main aim of the Prime Minister Imran Khan's to attend Beijing's Winter Olympics 20200 is to express solidarity with China as several Western countries have announced to boycott the event diplomatically.

The mega sports event is set to kick off from Feb 4-20 in the Chinese capital and venues near neighboring towns of Yanqing and Chongli. It will be the second Olympics being held under strict COVID-19 rules amid the threat of the Omicron variant.

Some 2,900 athletes from over 90 countries are expected to participate in the Winter Games in China.

The US, UK, Canada and Australia are the prominent countries that have announced a diplomatic boycott of the event due to human rights record of China. However, athletes from these countries will still take part in the games.

PM Imran Khan is scheduled to fly to Beijing on February 3 for a three-day long visit during which he will also meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.

FM Qureshi, in a statement on Thursday, said that Pakistan and China have always stood by each other in difficult times as both countries enjoy exemplary bilateral relations.

The foreign minister pointed out that a special task force was constituted to take forward the CPEC and other joint projects with China. He said the task force chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan held several round of discussions and now a strategy has been prepared on the basis of which talks will be held with the Chinese leadership, state broadcaster reported.

He said Pakistan’s foreign policy is focused on economic diplomacy to achieve economic stability and bring prosperity in the lives of the people.

China hails PM Imran’s decision to attend ... 08:30 PM | 15 Jan, 2022

BEIJING – China has highly appreciated and welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to attend the ...