Pressure on Johnson to toughen stance on China over Peng Shuai ring | Boris Johnson

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Pressure is mounting on Boris Johnson to toughen his stance on Beijing amid concerns about the well-being of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, as senior lawmakers claim a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics is now inevitable.

And the pressure didn’t seem to go away after the International Olympic Committee said its president had made a 30-minute video call with Ping. The episode was dismissed by Conservative MP Tim Lawton, of the influential Inter-Parliamentary Alliance in China as “derived from the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook”, and the group added: “The video cannot be taken as evidence that it is okay or safe.”

Lawton said, “The IOC call does nothing to prove that Peng Shuai is safe and well, as anyone who has been paying attention to CCP’s tactics knows. The Xi regime is disappearing people all the time. But unbelievably, the IOC is leaning backwards to make The legality of these hostage tactics.The IOC should take a paper from the WTA book, [which] He rose up fearlessly, and should be commended.

“If such distinguished people as Peng Shuai can disappear, good knows how many other people have fallen into the clutches of Chinese paranoia. Against this background, giving the seal of approval to the Beijing Olympics is unthinkable.”

Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden called the situation deeply worrying, adding that he welcomed pressure from the State Department, which urged Beijing over the weekend to provide “verifiable evidence” of Peng’s whereabouts and safety.

The Labor Party leadership submitted written questions asking for the assurances the Foreign Ministry had given to the Chinese authorities.

Ministers in the House of Lords will be asked on Thursday to formally comment by Lord Alton on reports that Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, considers the attack on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang a genocide.

Alton is one of five signatories to a letter calling for any official diplomatic representation of the United Kingdom to be banned at the Winter Olympics, which begin in less than three months.

The letter was signed by Tom Tugendhat, chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, Sir Ian Duncan Smith, former leader of the Conservative Party, and former ministers Tim Lawton and Nusrat Ghani.

The Workers’ Party in June called for a boycott if the Chinese government did not provide by September 14 – the date of the United Nations General Assembly – the United Nations adequate access to conduct an investigation into the treatment of the Uyghur people. Labor MPs said: “The UK government should not send ministers, royals or senior representatives to take part in any official duties or ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics.”

“A political boycott by the UK and other countries would send a strong signal of deep global concern over the plight of the Uyghurs and prevent the Games from being a public relations exercise for Chinese authorities,” they added.

The British government has taken a firm stand against blanket sports boycotts, but after reports that the US will impose a diplomatic boycott, pressure is growing on the UK to follow suit. Overseas spectators have already been banned by China. Truss has taken a hard line on China but faces resistance from the Number 10 and Cabinet Office.

Speaking over the weekend, National Security Adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove said: “China’s rise is the central geopolitical reality of the 21st century and we have absolutely no desire to see it ever come true. Its economic growth is important to all of us and everyone who lives In China.

“But, equally, I think what we would like to do is see compatibility and balance assured within established rules that work for everyone’s benefit, not just in favor of entrenched dominance.”

On the Uyghur issue, the UK has repeatedly said that only international courts can decide on the genocide. By contrast, the UK Parliament voted to describe the repression in Xinjiang as genocide.

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