AMN / WEB DESK
The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. The White House said no official delegation will be sent to the games because of concerns about China’s human rights record. But it said US athletes can attend the games and will have the government’s full support.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, US diplomatic representation will treat these games as business as usual in the face of Beijing’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. Psaki added that Team USA has the administration’s full support but that the administration will not be contributing to the fanfare of the game. Psaki said, the diplomatic boycott of the games does not mean that is the end of the concerns we will raise about human rights abuses.
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.
President Joe Biden told reporters last month 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 athletes that will make up Team USA have the administration’s “full support,” Psaki said, but she added the administration would not be “contributing to the fanfare of the games.”