US Declared a boycott diplomatically 2022’s Beijing Winter Olympics

The US has declared a boycott diplomatically for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

The White House said no official delegation would be going to the Games due to concerns over China’s human rights track record.

It also stated that US athletes could participate and would be able to count on the support of the entire government.

China has said previously that it will implement “resolute countermeasures” in the event of a possible boycott.

US Presidency Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a boycott by the diplomatic community of the conference.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the boycott on Monday, explaining that the administration will not participate in”any “fanfare” of the Olympics.

“US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang,” she declared. “We simply can’t do that.”

The Biden administration’s boycott of diplomatic events at the 2022 Winter Olympics falls far short of the prior US ban in 1980 in which the athletes were pulled off the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the year prior.

It was the Soviet Union and its allies also did not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics that were held at Los Angeles.