Britain joined Australia and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics in February prompted by what the Western allies argue are widespread rights abuses by China.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament that the UK will not send ministers to the Winter Games in the Chinese capital Beijing because of the slew of issues that strain relations to the most serious extent since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
These include the persecution of pro-democracy groups in the former British colony of Hong Kong and human rights abuses against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Johnson told the British parliament that there will be a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
As with the US and Australian moves, he confirmed that athletes would attend but he said: "I do not think that sporting boycotts are sensible." However, his comments left the possibility open for members of Britain's royal family to attend, with Princess Anne being the president of the British Olympic Association.
The United States announced on Monday its diplomatic boycott over what Washington called China's genocide of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and other human rights abuses.
On Wednesday Australia said its officials would stay away, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowing not to step back from the strong position we've had standing up for Australia's interests. On Wednesday, Australia warned that the US would pay the price, while accusing Canberra of political posturing and selfish games and blindly following Washington.
Wang Wenbin, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said China had never intended to invite Australian officials to the Games, saying: Whether they come or not, nobody cares. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Australia said the boycott ran counter to Canberra's publicly pronounced expectation to improve China-Australia relations Rights groups said that at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking minorities have been incarcerated in re-education camps in Xinjiang, where China has also been accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour.
Beijing defended the camps as vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.
The International Olympic Committee has said it respects the US government's announcement, calling the presence of officials and diplomats a political decision for each government White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said that despite China's egregious human rights abuses the Games were business as usual. Australia and the UK are the only countries to follow the US lead, while Canada is considering it.
The relations with Beijing have cooled dramatically in the past few years.
France, which is poised to take over the European Council presidency on January 1, said Tuesday it would seek a coordinated response from the EU to the US decision.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted invitations from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend the 2022 games, but the Kremlin said it was wrong to think that the 2022 games should be free of politics.
The UK criticised China for its creeping authoritarianism in Hong Kong and angered Beijing last year by blocking Huawei participation in its 5 G broadband roll-out, after the US raised spying concerns.
Caroline Wilson, the UK ambassador, said last month that it was in China's interests to meet constitutional and international obligations and uphold people's rights after meeting the wife of a rights lawyer imprisoned by Beijing, Yu Wensheng.
Canberra's ties with China have fallen in recent years, with Beijing imposing a raft of punitive sanctions on Australian goods.
China has angered Australia by refusing to legislate against overseas influence operations, barring Huawei from 5 G contracts and calling for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronaviruses epidemic.
Australia's recent move to equip its navy with nuclear-powered submarines under a new defence pact with Britain and the US - widely seen as an attempt to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific region - further infuriated Beijing.
Morrison stated that Australia is a great sporting nation and I very much separate the issues of sport and these other political issues. A Chinese Embassy spokesman in Canberra said Australian athletes would be welcomed at the Games, and wished them an excellent performance.