Tuesday 7 December 2021

United States diplomats to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics



The United States has actually announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Season Olympics in China - a move that has been heavily criticised by Beijing.

The White House said no official delegation would be sent to the Games because of concerns about China's human rights record.

However it said United States athletes could go to and would have the federal government's full support.

China called Washington's move a "self-directed political farce".

" The US just wants to politicize sports, provoke and develop divisions conflict," said a statement by the Spokesperson of the Chinese Mission to the UN.

" The success of the Games does not rely on the participation of a handful of countries' government officials."

Previously, preparing for the announcement, Beijing stated it would take "undaunted countermeasures" versus such a boycott.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the boycott on Monday, stating that the administration would not contribute to the "fanfare" of the Olympics.

" US main or diplomatic representation would treat these video games as company as usual in the face of the PRC's [Individuals's Republic of China] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang," she said. "We simply can't do that."

Ms Psaki included that the United States government did not feel "it was the right step to punish athletes who had actually been training for this minute", but that not sending out a main United States delegation to the 2022 Games "could send a clear message".

Following the US statement, New Zealand stated on Tuesday it too would not send a delegation. Other countries, including the UK and Australia, are said to be thinking about boycotts.

' Political posturing'

China's Washington embassy also pitched in on the announcement, calling the boycott a "grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter".

" No-one would appreciate whether these individuals come or not, and it has no effect whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Season Olympics to be successfully held," said spokesman Liu Pengyu, priced estimate by Reuters.

Mr Liu added that no invite had been encompassed United States political leaders, "so this 'diplomatic boycott simply comes out of no place".

On Chinese social networks platform Weibo, the search topic "United States diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter season Olympics" has actually been censored since Tuesday morning.

The majority of the remarks below a post on the statement by state media outlet Global Times were also erased, leaving just eight out of close to 1,500 remarks untouched.

" The Olympics are for athletes, what does it involve ... politicians? Even if you boycott, the only people you're hurting are your own compatriots (including professional athletes)," one such remark read.

Top-level federal government agents - from the US and other countries - are generally present at Olympic Games.

Earlier this year, First Lady Jill Biden led the US delegation at the summertime Olympics held in Tokyo.

China had pre-emptively attempted to take the sting out of this in the last few days by dismissing such a move as unimportant.

Officials stated Covid limitations implied Beijing and the IOC weren't inviting any dignitaries anyway. You can anticipate to see this decision derided as yet another indication of a "cold war mindset".

However it was always very unlikely that Joe Biden or any senior political figure would pertain to a Games hosted by a government he said is committing genocide.

In the months developing to this decision one senior US diplomat I spoke with stated they 'd try to educate their athletes about what's happening in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. They envisaged something like fire side talks amongst athletes in between events in Beijing.

Will the UK now do the same? London does not formally implicate Xi Jinping's Communist program of genocide however Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has reportedly said simply that in private conversations.

Some months ago a senior UK official, thoroughly involved in policy on China, told me they thought the UK would be seen as America's 'poodle' if it signed up with a boycott.

Bipartisan assistance

In the United States, the diplomatic boycott was applauded by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney tweeted that the Biden administration was "best to decline" a diplomatic existence at the Olympics, while Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi included that she praised the choice.

"While we need to support and celebrate our athletes, America - and the world - can not give our official imprimatur to these games or proceed as if there is absolutely nothing wrong with holding the Olympics in a country perpetrating genocide and mass human rights infractions," Ms Pelosi stated.

Some United States politicians, nevertheless, stated they thought that the diplomatic boycott is inadequate, with Senator Tom Cotton calling it a "half measure" and argued that the administration ought to have chosen to "completely boycott" the video games.

The United States has implicated China of repression of the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities living mainly in the self-governing region of Xinjiang.

Tensions have likewise risen over the method China has acted to suppress political freedoms in Hong Kong, and because of concern for the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who has actually implicated a top government official of attack.

Other nations, consisting of the UK and Australia, are stated to be thinking about boycotts.

The Biden administration's diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics falls far short of a previous US boycott in 1980, when it pulled its professional athletes out of the Moscow Olympics to protest against the Soviet intrusion of Afghanistan the previous year.

The Soviet Union and its allies, in turn, boycotted the following 1984 Summer season Olympics kept in Los Angeles.

The United States is itself due to hold the Summertime Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles.

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