By Ijeoma Ilekanachi
The United States announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a move that is in protest to the human rights abuses in China.
This was confirmed in a press briefing at the White House on Monday.
The White House press secretary Jen Psaki revealed that the US government will not send delegates to the Winter Olympics but the athletes will be allowed to compete.
“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic games given the PCR’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,” Psaki declared.
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.”
“US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PCR’s egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can’t do that.
READ ALSO: TOKYO PARALYMPICS 2020: Organisers say Games to be staged without spectators
“As the president has told President Xi, standing up for human rights is in the DNA of Americans, we have a fundamental commitment to promoting human rights and we feel strongly in our position,” Psaki said, adding that Washington will continue its efforts to promote human rights in China.
However, this development has been heavily criticised by Beijing.
In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the US wants to politicise sports, create divisions and provoke confrontation.
Beijing also stated it would take “resolute countermeasures” against such a boycott.
According to reports, several other countries expressed displeasure over China’s human rights abuses and might likely follow in the footsteps of the United States.
