Washington makes this choice because of the “genocide and crimes against humanity in progress in Xinjiang”. China had warned that such an announcement from the United States would lead it to take “firm countermeasures”.
Le Monde with AFP
For months, the US government was looking for the best way to position themselves with regard to the winter Olympic Games (OJ) in Beijing in 2022. He finally chose the diplomatic boycott: the United States Will not send a diplomatic representative at the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games because of the “genocide and crimes against humanity in progress in Xinjiang,” the White House announced Monday 6 December.
By present, “the American diplomatic representation would treat these games as if nothing had happened, despite the flagrant violations of China’s human rights and atrocities in Xinjiang. And we simply can not do that,” Supported the spokesperson for the White House, Jen Psaki. Several human rights organizations accuse Beijing to intervene in Xinjiang at least one million Muslims in “rehabilitation camps”.
American athletes, they will participate in competitions. “Team USA athletes have our total support. We will be behind them 100% while we will encourage them from here,” said Jen Psaki.
“China will take firm countermeasures “
Shortly before the official announcement, China had warned that it would react if the United States called for a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics. Such a boycott would only be “branded”, said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian on Monday. “If the United States wants to do things in their own way, China will take firm countermeasures,” he added. I insist that the Olympic Winter Games are not a scene to take political postures and handling. “
The US Olympic Committee opposed a total boycott, emphasizing the importance of games after pandemic months. He has found in the past that the boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980 by the United States and sixty other countries, and those of Los Angeles in 1984 by the Soviet Union and its allies, had shown that use. These events as a “political tool” was an “error”.