The US will conduct a diplomatic boycott of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Beijing to protest Chinese human rights violations, according to the White House on Monday. Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, says US athletes will continue to compete and will “have our full support,” but that “we will not be adding to the games’ hype.”
“In the midst of the PRC’s horrendous human rights violations and atrocities in Xinjiang, US diplomatic or official representation would regard these games as business as usual, and we just cannot do that,” Psaki told reporters during Monday’s briefing.
“We are deeply committed to supporting human rights. And we are confident in our position, and we will continue to take steps to improve human rights in China and elsewhere,” Psaki elaborated.
The United States has led worldwide condemnation of Beijing’s assault on the Uyghur Muslim minority in western Xinjiang.
“In the midst of the PRC’s horrendous human rights violations and atrocities in Xinjiang, US diplomatic or official representation would regard these games as business as usual, and we just cannot do that,” Psaki said at a news conference on Monday.
Other nations, notably Germany and the United Kingdom, have considered excluding high-ranking officials from the games, which begin on February 2.
‘Political bluffing’
The Chinese embassy in Washington also weighed in on the news, calling the boycott a “grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter.”
“No one cares if these individuals arrive or not, and it has no bearing on the success of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics,” said spokeswoman Liu Pengyu, as reported by Reuters.
Mr Liu went on to say that no invitation had been given to US legislators, thus the “diplomatic boycott” “comes out of nowhere.” As of Tuesday morning, the search term “US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics” on the Chinese social media site Weibo has been banned.
The majority of the comments following a post by state media source Global Times on the news were likewise removed, leaving only eight out of over 1,500 comments unaffected.
Biden will headline the ‘Summit for Democracy.
Biden will host a White House Summit for Democracy this week, a virtual meeting of leaders and civil society specialists from more than 100 nations, on Thursday and Friday. According to the administration, Biden plans to use the gathering to “announce both individual and collective pledges, reforms, and actions to safeguard democracy and human rights at home and abroad.”
Senator Robert Menéndez, D-New Jersey, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, termed such a diplomatic boycott “a critical move to express our steadfast commitment to human rights in the face of the Chinese government’s appalling abuses.”
He urged “all friends and partners who share our principles to join the US in this diplomatic boycott.”
Political provocation’
Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing that such a move would be an “outright political provocation,” but he did not elaborate on how China may respond.
Human rights activists and legislators in the United States who support the boycott argue that it is a vital move. They use China’s terrible record on human rights as justification, claiming that the games are being used to cover up the ill-treatment of civil rights advocates, political dissidents, and ethnic minorities.
“Without being invited, American lawmakers continue to hype the so-called diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is merely wishful thinking and grandstanding,” Zhao said during a regular press conference. “If the United States insists on going its own way, China will respond forcefully.”
The diplomatic embargo comes as the US strives to normalize tense relations with Beijing while maintaining a harsh stance on trade and disputes over China’s conduct in Taiwan, human rights, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea.
Beijing has reacted angrily to any US critiques, dismissing them as meddling in its domestic affairs and imposing visa bans on American lawmakers it considers anti-China.
It was unclear who the US may have sent to Beijing for the games, and Zhao’s statements suggested that China had not offered any invites. Australia, whose relations with China have deteriorated due to a variety of issues, has also raised the prospect of a diplomatic boycott.
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