Lithuania on Friday confirmed diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics amid concerns over the human rights situation in China.
"Lithuania confirms diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022 Olympics. President @GitanasNauseda confirmed that neither he nor Ministers would attend," Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) tweeted.
Aside from Lithuania, both US and UK are said to be considering the diplomatic boycott over the human rights violations in China.
This comes as human rights activists have raised their voices against China's detention of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province and crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Earlier this year, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity for alleged human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
This news about the diplomatic boycott comes amid deteriorating ties between China and Lithuania.
The relations between the two countries soured this year after the Lithuanian government allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the country. Back in August, China recalled its ambassador from Vilnius, to which Lithuania responded reciprocally in September.
Recently, reports emerged that Lithuanian companies are facing problems with customs clearance in Chinese ports after China allegedly deleted Lithuania from its customs systems.
( With inputs from ANI )
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