Japan won't send any senior officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics, the government said Friday -- but stopped short of calling the decision a diplomatic boycott.
Japan"believes that respect for human rights is important," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference."We made a decision comprehensively."Tokyo Olympics Chief Seiko Hashimoto, Japanese Olympic Committee President Yasuhiro Yamashita, and Japan Paralympic Chief Kazuyuki Mori will still attend the event, Matsuno added.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this month he does not plan to attend the Games.
The Beijing Games have been shrouded in controversy for months, with activists and critics calling for boycotts over concerns of human rights abuses in China -- particularly against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang. Read MoreA number of foreign governments, lawmakers, independent tribunals, and humanitarian groups have declared China's treatment of Uyghurs a genocide.
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