Washington thus protests the violation of Human Rights in the Asian giant
The White House confirmed on Monday the diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in response to the human rights violations committed by the Chinese government in Xinjiang, which implies that no senior US official will attend the sporting event, something that will not has precedent since 1980.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has indicated that the Joe Biden Administration is sending a “clear message” that abuses cannot go unpunished. At a press conference, Psaki confirmed that the decision had been taken “given the genocide and ongoing crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang province.
Although it does not send a diplomatic delegation, the White House has conveyed its “full support” to the US Olympic team, while insisting that it is not willing to “contribute to the fanfare of the game,” reports CNN. Psaki added that the government does not consider it a “correct or fair step” to apply a full boycott of the games, as it would penalize American athletes.
For his part, the State Department spokesman, Ned Price, has defended the decision, considering that without diplomatic representation a signal will not be sent that the competition represents something “similar to normality” in the face of “ongoing atrocities, crimes against humanity and genocide ”.
Price has specified that Washington will provide “support” diplomatic service to US citizens such as athletes, coaches and personnel who decide to go to Beijing for the Games.
Although the spokesman has indicated that the boycott is a decision “that each country must take”, he has expressed that he hopes that other governments “will announce their decision in the coming days and weeks.” “What we know is that there are many countries around the world, including many of our closest allies, that share these concerns (about the abuses in Xinjiang),” he recalled.
On the other hand, he has told the private sector that he has “at his fingertips” a “large volume of information on the concerns” raised by Washington about the situation in the region, for which he has urged them to “make decisions about their practices ”in this regard. “We want the private sector to be fully aware and operate with all the information regarding what is happening in Xinjiang,” he claimed.
The possible American boycott was something that had been talked about in recent weeks. Biden himself acknowledged in November that the diplomatic boycott was on the table, after it had been requested by prominent voices from the main parties, including Democrat Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives.
After knowing the news, the official newspaper Global Times has published a message on its Twitter account assuring that “to be honest, the Chinese are relieved to hear this news, because the less Americans come, the less viruses will be introduced” into the country .
For his part, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Liu Pengyu, has regretted that those who ask for the boycott “are doing it for their own political interests” and has assured that “no one would care” if a US diplomatic delegation goes to the competition or not because it “has no impact on the successful completion of Beijing 2022.”
The last time a similar measure was applied was with Jimmy Carter in the White House, when the United States politically distanced itself from the Moscow Olympics. Now, countries like Canada or the United Kingdom are considering joining the United States in the boycott.
The tensions between the United States and China have been a constant in recent years and, in fact, Biden has not invited the Asian giant to the Summit for Democracy that he organizes this week. One of the main American reproaches has to do with the treatment inflicted on the Uighurs in Xinjiang, although it has also criticized the repression of dissent in Hong Kong.
The official Chinese press has echoed in recent weeks the boycott threats that have come from the United States and also from other countries from the United Kingdom and at the end of November the ‘Global Times’ made it clear that Beijing would not invite the leaders who even raise diplomatic retaliation linked to the Olympics.
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