Beijing Olympics threatened with “diplomatic boycott” of the United States

Published on : 11/17/2021 – 10:18 am

This is an increasingly probable hypothesis. A “diplomatic boycott” by the United States of the Winter Olympics scheduled for Beijing in February, to protest against human rights violations in China, seems to be emerging, eliciting positive reactions from some US elected officials.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, November 16, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the White House is expected to announce soon that neither President Joe Biden, nor any other US government official, will attend the Beijing Games.

This “diplomatic boycott”, rather than a total boycott, should make it possible to protest against the repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China, described as “genocide” by Washington, while letting American athletes compete.

The daily specifies that Joe Biden should “approve” by the end of November this option which was formally recommended to him by his advisers.

Asked Tuesday about a possible boycott, a White House spokesman confined himself to saying that this subject had not been raised by the American president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during their virtual summit on Monday evening, without speaking pronounce on the merits of the decision.

“The good choice”

Without waiting for official confirmation, several elected officials welcomed this possible choice.

“I have long pleaded for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games and I am hopeful that the government will send a strong message to the Chinese Communist Party without punishing American athletes,” Republican Senator Mitt Romney reacted on Twitter after the publication. from the Washington Post article.

Jim Risch, leader of the Republicans on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, also issued a statement to say that such a decision would be “the right choice”.

The Democratic President of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, had called in May for a “diplomatic boycott” of the Olympic Games organized in China, drawing at the time a furious reaction from the Chinese authorities.

But several Republican hawks urge Joe Biden to go further, with a total boycott of sports competition by officials but also American athletes.

With AFP