US President Joe Biden said Thursday that the country “views” a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as a way to protest against human rights violations on Chinese soil.
“This is what we are looking at,” Joe Biden said in Washington when asked if the government is considering not sending representatives to the competition.
Having made it clear that athletes will be able to compete, the President did not rule out a possible diplomatic boycott of all other forms of representation.
China reacts harshly to any mention of boycotts long called for by associations and nongovernmental organizations, especially given the treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang, which Americans condemn as a “genocide” situation.
It could also open up a new front of diplomatic tensions between the world’s two superpowers just days after the presidential meeting, when Biden and Xi Jinping discuss “guarantees” that could prevent conflict.
Beijing 2022 will take place from February 4 to 20 next year in the Chinese capital, and participation in the event has divided US politics as several bills have been introduced in Congress aimed at either sanctioning companies supporting the event or calling for a complete boycott.
If political representatives disperse, and a final and official decision is expected by the end of the month, the North American Olympic Committee will ask not to punish athletes after nearly two years of the covid-19 pandemic, in addition to remembering the boycott in Moscow. 1980 was, among other things, a “mistake” considering the transformation of sport into a “political tool”.
