TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prominent Japanese academic and critic Masato Ushio has called for his country to go “beyond a diplomatic boycott” of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics and not participate in the opening ceremony in any capacity.

In an opinion article published by Forward Japan, Ushio lamented Japan’s chronic flip-flopping in past efforts to stand up to China. He also laid out his case for why “athletes should also boycott the opening ceremony.”

He recalled how Japan broke ranks with Western countries at the G7 summit in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. “Japan was the weakest link in the Western nations’ united front on sanctions on China,” Ushio quoted former Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen (钱其琛) as saying.

“Japan must not tread the same path again,” Ushio said. He added the participation of Japanese athletes in the opening ceremony would be symbolically damaging.

“The host nation’s head of state makes the opening declaration during the ceremony,” he wrote. He also quoted the Olympic Charter that stipulates delegations salute the host country’s head of state and the IOC president as they pass their booth.

He said seeing Japanese athletes endorse a dictatorship like this would be intolerable.

The governments of the U.S., Australia, the U.K., Canada, and New Zealand have each announced their official representatives will not be attending the Games. The EU has also extended business and travel restrictions on officials involved in the crackdown on Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang for another year.

Usashi lambasted his government for its indecisiveness, with particular focus on newly-appointed Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa, who he said Beijing views as an ideal target to operate through.

“There are only two months until Beijing 2022. How long can this indecisiveness go on?... where is Gen Nakatani, the special adviser on human rights?” he asked. He called on Tokyo to stop being a “swaying ship” between liberal democracies and authoritarian states, and stand together with its allies against Beijing.