US-Beijing Standoff: White House Announces Diplomatic Boycott Of Winter Olympics

The United States will stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over concerns about China’s record on human rights, the White House said Monday.

“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

A diplomatic boycott means that no U.S. Government officials will attend the Games but that U.S. athletes will still be allowed to compete.

China has come under fire for cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, for its policies toward Tibet and Taiwan, and for detaining and abusing Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Some Republican lawmakers, who have grown increasingly hawkish toward China, have been pressuring the administration to boycott the 2022 Games or push for China’s host status to be revoked and for the Games to be moved. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., urged the administration last month to boycott the Games, including keeping athletes from competing.

Calls for either a diplomatic or full boycott of the Winter Games have grown since the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai disappeared from public view for three weeks after making sexual assault allegations against a former senior official of the Chinese Communist Party.

Peng has since reappeared but questions remain about whether she is acting on her own free will.

A diplomatic boycott is seen by some as the best way to hold China to account without punishing athletes who have been training for years.

Psaki said the Biden administration had informed U.S. allies of its decision and would leave it to individual countries to make their own decisions. She added that the administration did not want to “penalise” U.S. athletes by barring them from participating and felt that a diplomatic boycott would send a clear message.

In a March opinion piece, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said that prohibiting American athletes from competing would be “unfair” and “counterproductive.”

“The right answer is an economic and diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics,” he said.

Romney applauded the White House’s decision following Psaki’s announcement, in a tweet, saying “America will not turn a blind eye to China’s predation, persecution, and genocide.”

China on Monday warned that it would take “resolute countermeasures” to any boycott.

“The Winter Olympics is not a stage for political show and political manipulation,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. A boycott would be “a naked political provocation, and a serious offense to the 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the only leader of a major country who has accepted China’s invitation to attend as many countries mull the possiblity of a boycott.

The United States is next due to host an Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, raising the question of how China might respond in the interim.