[News] Boycott of China: United States decides not to send delegates to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

[S e u o n g]

China on Tuesday condemned the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics announced by the United States and threatened to retaliate.

At a press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused Washington of "violating political neutrality in sport," said the announced boycott is "based on lies and rumors" and announced that Beijing is willing to take "firm countermeasures. ", but without offering details.

The United States announced the blockade of the Winter Games, which will be held in February 2022 in Beijing, this Monday.

The White House said no official delegation will be sent to the Games due to concerns about alleged human rights violations in China, although American athletes will be able to compete and will have official support.

US President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a diplomatic boycott of the event.

 

 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the boycott on Monday, saying that while American athletes will have the "full support" of the government, the administration will not contribute to the "fanfare" of the Olympics.

"The presence of the US diplomatic representation at the Games would be as if nothing had happened, despite the flagrant violations of human rights and the atrocities of China in Xinjiang," she said. "We just can't do that."

Different from other boycotts
The Biden government's diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is a far cry from the US boycott in 1980, when it did not attend the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year.

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

Psaki added that the US government did not consider that it was "the correct step to sanction athletes who had been training at this time", but that not sending an official US delegation to the 2022 Games "could send a clear message. "

 

 

 

LINK: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-59556898