LONDON: Britain on Wednesday 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. The UK will not send ministers to the Winter Games in the Chinese capital Beijing, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament, as discord over a slew of issues strains relations to the most serious extent since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. These include the persecution on pro-democracy groups in the former British colony of Hong Kong and human rights abuses against Muslim mi…