Sydney residents said they supported Australian's decision to join the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics Games on Wednesday (December 8), however some were still cautious about the move, Reuters reports.
"Essentially the decision to join the United States and possibly other countries is a good idea. But I think the government's still got to put diplomacy ahead of their own (political and election) interests and how they present that," said a local resident named James.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday's decision came because of Australia's struggles to re-open diplomatic channels with China to discuss alleged human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang and Beijing's moves against Australian imports.
Other U.S. allies have been slow to commit to joining the boycott.
