INTERNATIONAL: The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, has said on Wednesday that it should not be interpreted as them taking a side, one way or the other, when choosing against commenting on political issues.

Facing questions about the growing number of countries deciding on a diplomatic boycott at the Beijing Winter Olympic over China's human rights record, Bach has said that doing so would go against their mission of uniting the world during the Games.

"By not commenting on political issues, you're not taking a side, otherwise, we could not manage to accomplish the mission of the Games to bring and to unite the world," "In this confrontational world we are living in… if the Games would even contribute to rising tensions, this would be absolutely contrary to our mission," Bach said at a news conference following the second day of its executive board meeting in Lausanne.

Bach also stated that they will continue their support of Peng Shuai, adding that their overall impression of video calls with the Chinese tennis star should quell any suspicions. "The most important human right is the physical integrity, and this physical integrity we have been ensuring during these calls, and we will continue the calls and we will continue the support.

"We all were having the same impression, and that we could not feel her being under pressure, and of course, people are saying there are suspicions here and there. "Suspicions you can have always and about everything, and our approach is to get this relationship with her, and to get the human feeling with her, to ensure her that we are caring about her."

Canada has joined Australia, Britain and the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Wednesday, with China calling the boycotts "political posturing" and a smear campaign.

The United States was the first to announce the boycott this week, saying on Monday its government officials would not attend February's Beijing Olympics because of China's human rights "atrocities", weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world's two largest economies.

China on Tuesday has said the United States would "pay a price" for its decision and warned of countermeasures but gave no details. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sought to play down the growing diplomatic boycott.