The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have begun and today we are looking at the diplomatic boycotts surrounding the games.

So far, countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games in response to the Chinese government's human rights abuses. However, do these types of boycotts have any impact? Should sports and politics mix? How will this impact the relationship between China and these countries after the games.

These are some of the questions that are discussed in this episode of What Matters Today.

Our guest for this episode is Professor Jussi Hanhimäki

Professor Hanhimäki is Professor of International History and Politics and Chair of the Department of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute.

He has been a faculty member since 2000, Professor Hanhimäki was previously a Lecturer at the London School of Economics. From 2002 to 2003, he was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars (Washington, DC) and is the recipient of the 2002 Bernath Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. He was elected Finland Distinguished Professor in 2006.

His main research interests include American foreign policy, transatlantic relations, and the international history of the Cold War.