US announces it will not send authorities to the Winter Games
The United States reported on Monday (6) that it will not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and China has promised unspecified “countermeasures” against such a diplomatic boycott.
US President Joe Biden said last month he was considering such a diplomatic boycott amid criticism of China's human rights record, including what the US says is a genocide against Muslims in its western Xinjiang region.
“The Biden government will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, in light of the genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights violations,” said White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, during a daily press briefing.
“A US diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as if they were normal, given the serious human rights abuses and atrocities of the PRC in Xinjiang, and we simply cannot do that,” said Psaki, referring to the People's Republic of China .
China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The diplomatic boycott, which had been encouraged by some members of the US Congress for months, would not affect the attendance of American athletes, she said.
“Team USA athletes have our full support. We will be 100% with them while we cheer from home”, he stated.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said earlier in Beijing that those calling for a boycott should stop "so as not to affect dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States in important areas."
"Should the US insist on voluntarily sticking to its course, China will take resolute countermeasures," Lijian said.
The United States will host the 2028 Winter Games in Los Angeles, raising the question of how China might respond.
Text translated using artificial intelligence.
