The administration of US President Joe Biden intends to declare a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games, which will be held in Beijing in 2022, writes The Washington Post, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, the administration is still working on the technical details of the decision, but it is planned to announce it by the end of November. The boycott will not affect the participation of American athletes in the Olympics, but Biden and other US officials will not be attending the games, which will be hosted by the Chinese capital from February 4 to 20.
The day before, Biden held his first online conference meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at which he expressed concern about alleged human rights violations in China. In particular, they talked about the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur region, where, according to Washington, the Chinese authorities are pursuing a policy of genocide against the Uyghur Muslim population.
American politicians have repeatedly called on the Biden administration to boycott the Beijing Olympics. In late October, a group of Democratic and Republican senators proposed an amendment to the draft defense budget that would bar the US Secretary of State from allocating federal funds to “support or facilitate” federal officials attending the games.
In May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics by the international community, citing human rights violations. In September, representatives of almost 200 human rights organizations from different countries made the same demand. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committees did not support this call: representatives of the organizations stated that in the past such measures, including a boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, were ineffective, and the decision to boycott the Games in Beijing could harm athletes.
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