China warned on Tuesday of the United States’ decision to promote a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, which will take place next year, in Beijing, due to human rights abuses in the Asian country.
“The United States will pay a price for the wrong move,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who also announced that a formal protest against Washington would be filed.
Yesterday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki was responsible for informing that the US government will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The decision is attributed to “the genocide and crimes against humanity that persist in Xinjiang, as well as other human rights violations” in China.
“Team USA athletes have our full support, and we will support them from home, but we will not contribute to the fanfare of the Games,” said Biden’s spokeswoman.
According to Psaki, the diplomatic boycott, which had already been anticipated by several American newspapers, is intended to “send a clear signal” that the human rights situation in China, where there is “grave abuse”, cannot be treated as “something normal”.
The government of the Asian country, on several occasions, denied the existence of these abuses and reiterated that it is a smear campaign.
“The United States is trying to disrupt the Games, based on its ideological bias, lies and rumours. But the boycott will only make people around the world see its sinister intentions even more clearly and further undermine its credibility and morality.” , stated Zhao.
The Asian country’s official newspaper, Global Times, in turn, published a message on Twitter stating that China “breathes a sigh of relief” after the announcement of the diplomatic boycott of Washington.
“The fewer American employees come, the less virus they will bring,” the publication indicated, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Winter Olympics will take place in Beijing from February 4th to 20th of next year. Then, between March 4 and 13, the Paralympic Winter Games will take place, also in the Chinese capital.
So far, the only country that has joined the American boycott initiative has been New Zealand, which will also not send diplomatic representatives to the events.
The Russian government appealed on Tuesday for sport and politics not to mix, the day after the United States announced a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing.
“We advocate leaving politics out of Olympic affairs and the Olympic family,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.
In addition, the representative of the Russian presidency assured that it is important that athletes do not suffer the consequences of political decisions in different countries. “With regard to this specific case, we understand that American athletes will be able to participate in competitions,” said Peskov.
Last month, the Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had received an invitation to participate in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games, scheduled to take place on February 4, 2022.
“After all the details are agreed, we will make a joint statement with our Chinese partners about this visit,” the spokesman said.
#China #warns #boycott #Beijing #Winter #Games