US officials will not attend the Beijing Olympics. About this during the briefing reported Jen Psaki, White House press secretary.
“In view of the PRC genocide in Xinjiang and other human rights violations, the Biden administration will not send a diplomatic or official delegation to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” Psaki said.
According to the press secretary, this decision will not affect the athletes. She noted that participants in the competition will receive the full support of the authorities, but that the country’s officials “will not add to the fanfare around the next Games.”
To the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declaredthat they respect the decision of the American authorities. The Chinese Embassy in the United States called the move “political manipulation”.
“There were no invitations to American politicians, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ came out of nowhere. Such a pretentious act is only political manipulation and a serious distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter, ”said diplomatic mission spokesman Liu Pengyu.
In January, the United States was the first in the world to accuse China of genocide against the Islamic people – the Uyghurs. The country’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said ethnic minorities were imprisoned, held in closed labor camps, forced to sterilize and tortured. In addition, the PRC authorities violated Uyghurs’ rights to freedom of religion and expression, Pompeo said at the time.
Previously, politicians from Canada and Norway called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics due to human rights violations in China. Britain is also considering the possibility of a diplomatic boycott.
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