US to announce diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics to take a stand against China’s human right abuses

Biden administration pressurized by the lawmakers to take a stand against China's human rights abuses

December 6, 2021

No American officials will attend Beijing Winter Olympics, US athletes will still be allowed to compete

The Biden administration is expected to announce a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing this week, a senior administration official said late Sunday.

CNN reported, no American government officials will attend the 2022 Beijing Olympics, implementing a diplomatic boycott of the games, although the US athletes will still be allowed to compete.

The Biden administration has been under pressure from lawmakers to take a stand against China’s human rights abuses.

China has been criticized for cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, for its policies toward Tibet and Taiwan, and for detaining and abusing Uyghurs Muslims in Xinjiang.

The report further added that this move will allow the US to send a message on the world stage to China without preventing US athletes from competing.

President Biden told the media last month that he was weighing a diplomatic boycott as Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, advocated for one in protest of China’s human rights abuses, the CNN report said.

Last month’s virtual summit between the US President and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, seen as some of the most critical diplomatic talks of Biden’s presidency, yielded no significant breakthroughs, the report said.

The last time the US fully boycotted the Olympics was in 1980 when then-President Jimmy Carter was in office.

Also, the Australian government has no plans to send any representatives to the Winter Games in February but an imminent announcement of a US boycott has fuelled a debate within the coalition about an official boycott, as several other countries including the United Kingdom and Canada considering joining the US.

Australia and 19 other countries including the United States and Japan last week refused to sign the United Nations Olympics truce to ensure that conflicts do not disrupt the games.

However, China had in the past warned the US against a boycott of the games, saying it would receive a “robust Chinese response,” Insider’s Cheryl Teh reported earlier this year.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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