US plans diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Games

`Joe Biden’s government is expected to announce this week a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, scheduled for February 2022. The information that no representative of the Democrat administration will participate in the multi-sport event was confirmed to the American network CNN by sources linked to the government.

Biden had already announced the intention in November, during a conversation with reporters at the White House. At the time, the American leader justified the possible boycott as a response to human rights violations committed by the Xi Jinping regime in China. Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, advocated the measure.

The boycott, however, would not prevent American athletes from competing in the competitions, according to the CNN network. The last diplomatic measure of its kind was taken by Washington in 1980 against the Moscow Olympics, in retaliation against Russia —then the Soviet Union—, which had invaded Afghanistan.

In response to speculation of a possible boycott, Beijing said it would organize retaliation if necessary. Zhao Lijiano, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, called the measure “a stain on the spirit of the Olympic Charter” and a “sensational and manipulative action” by the US.

“The US should stop politicizing sports and organizing a ‘diplomatic boycott’ so as not to affect US-China dialogue and cooperation in important areas,” Lijian said on Monday (6).

One of the main sensitive points used by the Democrat administration as an argument to criticize the Chinese government is the situation of the Uighurs, a majority Muslim minority, in the Xinjiang region, in the west of the country. Human rights organizations denounce that the local population is kept under heavy surveillance and forced to align itself with the centenary Communist Party of China.

Former US President Donald Trump even accused the Xi regime of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the region, and the US government imposed sanctions on a powerful company and two authorities in the region as a way of pressing for an end to the violations of human rights. The matter has also been prioritized by the Biden government in bilateral talks with Beijing.

Along with the member countries of the European Union (EU), Canada and the United Kingdom, the US announced, in March, new sanctions against two of the main authorities of the Chinese regime in Xinjiang. US Treasury Department Director Andrea Gacki said Chinese officials will “continue to face consequences as long as atrocities occur.”

The American and Chinese leaders held their first virtual bilateral meeting in November. The conversation between the two lasted about three and a half hours, at least 30 minutes longer than expected, and had the economic agenda and human rights as the main themes.

Among other things, Biden, according to an official statement released by the White House after the meeting, cited “concerns about the practices of the People’s Republic of China in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, as well as human rights more fairly.”