The Chinese government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, after the government in Biden said it was talking to allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights violations.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman has denied allegations of ill-treatment of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned against an unspecified ‘robust Chinese response’ to a potential boycott of the Olympics.
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“The politicization of sport will harm the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries,” said spokesman Zhao Lijian. “The international community, including the U.S. Olympic Committee, will not accept it.”
Human rights groups argue that China would begin hosting the games in February 2022. They called for a boycott or other measures to address the allegations of Chinese abuse against Uighurs, Tibetans and Hong Kong residents.
The US State Department has suggested that an Olympic boycott be one of the possibilities, but a senior official said a boycott was not discussed later. The International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said in the past that they oppose boycotts.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that the White House is not looking at a 2022 Olympics boycott.
“We have not discussed, and did not discuss, a joint boycott with allies and partners,” she said.
Asked if the US government would discourage Americans from traveling to China, Psaki said the Biden government hopes that by now we are “enough to have enough people across the country, and hopefully vaccinated around the world” is”. against COVID-19.