Poor diplomacy

 The US initiated a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, and—predictably—Canada, Britain, Australia and a number of other countries followed the example of the American diplomats and did not attend yesterday’s Beijing’s opening ceremonies. We can be kind to these diplomats and recognize that they did so out of concern for human rights violations in China. Having said this, we should also, however, remind these diplomats that their fundamental role as diplomats is to display their “skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility (Webster’s.)

Anyone who watched the opening ceremonies yesterday is sure to have seen the Chinese leader Xi Jinping standing, all alone, watching the ceremonies in the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing. If diplomacy is indeed the art of not arousing hostility, it is hard to imagine anything more undiplomatic than the failure of our leaders to have been there, alongside Xi Jinping, to greet and encourage with their presence the young athletes of the world who, unlike our leaders, were assembled there  in a show of unity and hope.