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Britain Will Not Send Top Officials to the Beijing Olympics

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that there will be “effectively a diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games by Britain, which joined the United States and others on Wednesday in a decision to pull its top officials from attendance of the Winter Games.

The boycott means that athletes will be allowed to compete but provides a way for Britain to to publicly condemn of China for its human rights abuses. Australia and Lithuania have also joined the United States in its diplomatic boycott, and some members of British Parliament had pushed for their country to follow suit.