Japan is reportedly planning not to send Cabinet ministers to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year because of China's human rights abuses and will make an announcement soon.

According to Japan's public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News on Friday, the Japanese government plans to announce the decision later in the day. 

The announcement will be effectively a move to join the U.S.' diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said that Japan will make its own decision on the matter at an appropriate time in accordance with national interest. 

Hardline conservatives in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party have reportedly called for a diplomatic boycott by the Kishida government over human rights issues in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong. 

Prime Minister Kishida reportedly met with his predecessor Shinzo Abe, a leading conservative, for about 25 minutes on Thursday. In the meeting, Abe is said to have expressed his views on the matter to Kishida.