MORE than 240 organisations, including Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), have signed a statement that the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China would open “amid atrocity crimes and other grave human-rights violations by the Chinese government”.

The statement, published last week, called for a diplomatic boycott of the Games, which begin today.

The founder president of CSW, Mervyn Thomas, said: “These Games are taking place during a period of intense repression of fundamental human rights in the Uyghur Region, Tibet, Hong Kong, and even the very city where the Games will take place. . . This is not a moment for celebration, but a time for outrage and action in the face of these violations.

“We join calls for governments, corporate sponsors, and spectators to not only ensure they are not complicit in these abuses and the propaganda used to cover them up, but to take robust action to stand with human-rights defenders, victims, and survivors.”

In November, the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, called on Britain to hold a diplomatic boycott of China in protest at its treatment of the Uighur minority (News, 29 November). The Government, he told the House of Lords, should also help to establish an international coalition to “stand up” to Chinese expansionism in the world.