White House announced Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

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The White House issued a statement that the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic representation or officials to the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. The press secretary of White House, Jen Psaki said, “Sending representation would treat these games as business as usual, in the face of China’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. The region where many members of the Uighur minority have faced repression or imprisonment and the US simply can’t do that”. However, US athletes will still compete in the games. At the White House press briefing, Psaki said, “The athletes on Team USA have our full support. We will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home. As the president has told President Xi, standing up for human rights is in the DNA of Americans”.

Psaki added, “We have a fundamental commitment to promoting human rights, and we feel strongly in our position and we will continue to take actions to advance human rights in China and beyond”. The US was widely expected to announce a diplomatic boycott. The foreign ministry of China has already alleged US officials of grandstanding over the possibility that it would not send US government representatives to Beijing. A spokesperson for China’s permanent mission to the United Nations, Tao Wang informed a news reporter that the success of the Games doesn’t rely on the attendance of a handful of countries’ government officials. He said, “The US decision reflects its mentality of Cold War. The US just wants to politicize sports, create divisions, and provoke confrontation”. However, President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a virtual summit last month and the White House described it as respectful.

President Biden expressed America’s concerns during that meeting about China’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner said, “A diplomatic boycott of the Games sends a powerful message to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) that the United States will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s increasing aggression globally and its disturbing human rights abuses, a list that is long and growing and includes vast and systematic repression of Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang; cultural destruction in Tibet; the silencing of those deemed threatening to the CCP, such as tennis player Peng Shuai, and companies and individuals around the world who do not adhere to the CCP’s narrative; escalating threats against the people of Taiwan, and the destruction of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong”. Point to be noted that Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place from 4 to 20 February 2022.