Washington [US], December 7 (ANI): In a symbolic protest against China‘s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” the Biden administration has decided not to send an official US delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday.

US athletes will still participate in the Olympics, but the administration will not be sending government officials to the games. The same policy applies to the Paralympic Games to be held in Beijing, CNN reported. According to CNN, the move marks an escalation of pressure by the US on China over allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses in China‘s western region of Xinjiang, particularly against the Uyghur population and other ethnic and religious minority groups.

The US is looking to send a “clear message” that the human rights abuses in China mean there cannot be “business as usual,” Psaki told media persons at a White House briefing.

President Joe Biden has said last month that he was weighing a diplomatic boycott as Democratic and Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, advocated for a protest of China‘s human rights abuses, CNN reported.

Psaki said the athletes that will make up Team USA have the administration’s “full support,” but the administration would not be “contributing to the fanfare of the games.” “US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply cannot do that,” Psaki said.

Psaki emphasized that the diplomatic boycott of the games does not signify “that is the end of the concerns we will raise about human rights abuses.” The White House has informed its allies abroad of the US decision, Psaki said.

Psaki also said the White House did not feel it was the “right step” or fair, to penalize US athletes who have been training for years by holding an entire US boycott of the Olympics. The last time the US fully boycotted the Olympics was in 1980 when former President Jimmy Carter was in office.

The US generally sends a delegation to the Olympics. Notably, in the okyo 2020 Olympics, first lady Jill Biden lead the US‘s diplomatic delegation.

According to a CNN report, the 2022 Winter Olympics was not a topic of conversation during the three-and-a-half-hour summit that Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held last month. The summit did not yield any major breakthroughs, and none were expected ahead of time. Biden had also raised concerns about human rights, Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and trade issues. (ANI)

Athletes will be able to take part in 2022 Beijing Olympics despite boycott: Ex-US diplomat

Washington [US], December 7 (ANI): After the Biden administration announced the diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, former US diplomat on Monday (local time) informed that the athletes will still be able to take part in the games.

The remarks came from Chas Freeman, who was the US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs from 1993-94 and US President Richard Nixon’s translator during his 1972 visit to Beijing, reported Sputnik news agency.

“The athletes will be able to compete. They don’t and won’t care who is in the stands. China never intended to invite US officials to attend in any event,” Freeman said.

Chas also said that the Biden Administration’s Boycott of the Beijing Olympics is the ‘minimal option’ left to the US.
“Given the pressure to boycott the Olympics to protest all sorts of causes, this is the minimal option,” Freeman said.

Earlier in the day, in a symbolic protest against China‘s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” the Biden administration has decided not to send an official US delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. “Beijing should not allow the petty slight to escalate needlessly into a new major clash between the two nations,” Freeman was quoted as saying by Sputnik.

“If China is wise, it will brush this off as a petty move that does not require a response,” the security expert added said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have called the diplomatic boycott “a political manipulation” by the US and said that this is a grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter.

The US is looking to send a “clear message” that the human rights abuses in China mean there cannot be “business as usual,” Psaki told media persons at a White House briefing.

According to CNN, the move marks an escalation of pressure by the US on China over allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses in China‘s western region of Xinjiang, particularly against the Uyghur population and other ethnic and religious minority groups. (ANI)