BEIJING: The United States has said it will boycott next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics diplomatically in protest of human rights abuses in China. This ensured that the Biden administration would not send official delegates to the Olympics. Announcing the boycott, White House Press Secretary Jen Zaki said the boycott was a result of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
But he added that the decision would not affect the participation of U.S. athletes in the Olympics. At the same time, China has warned of strong repercussions if the U.S. decides to go ahead with the embargo. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Shao Lijiang said the Olympics were not a platform for ideological and political dissent and that the U.S. position was an open political provocation.
However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it was up to each country to decide whether or not to send a diplomatic team. The then US President George W. Bush participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This year’s Tokyo Olympics was attended by a diplomatic team led by US First Lady Jill Biden.
New Zealand announces diplomatic boycott
Following the US, New Zealand announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Grand Robertson has said the decision not to send diplomats to China was due to a Kovid threat.
He added that in October, China had been told that it had nothing to do with the US decision and would not send its ministers to the Olympics.
He said New Zealand would not change its position on China’s human rights abuses and would always speak out against it.
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