In an announcement put forth this past Monday, the United States government issued its official diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics as a means of response to the human rights violations that were committed by the Chinese Communist Party. Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary, issued the announcement as part of her appearance in front of the White House pool on Monday.
“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity,” Psaki stated to the gathered media.
Psaki officially announces a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics: "The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity[.]" pic.twitter.com/xc5WL08rNI
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 6, 2021
She went on to add that the U.S. will also be supporting American athletes from abroad:
“The athletes on Team USA have our full support, we’ll be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home. We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games”
It was reported by Axios that “before the boycott had been announced, the CCP and state media organizations had claimed that the Biden administration was politicizing the sporting event.”
Before the carrying out of the expected boycott, Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated that China had made preparations to take “countermeasures.”
“Without being invited, American politicians keep hyping the so-called diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic, which is purely wishful thinking and grandstanding,” Zhao stated. “If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take firm countermeasures.”
As noted by the Associated Press, it was a common tradition for most top governmental officials to visit the country that was hosting the Olympics.
“The dispatching of high-level delegations to each Olympics has long been a tradition among the U.S. and other leading nations — then-president George W. Bush attended the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Summer Games,” stated the outlet. “First lady Jill Biden led the American contingent to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year and second gentleman Doug Emhoff led a delegation to the Paralympic Games.”
This decision has seemed to have garnered staggering bipartisan support.
This past month, Cruz stated to NBC that he was in support of a possible diplomatic boycott, while also stating that he thought that American athletes should still be able to perform at the event.
In the wake of the move, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, put out a tweet showing her support for Biden’s decision and praising the president for his “strong leadership.”
“As I noted when I called for a diplomatic boycott last May, the last three decades of Beijing’s abusive and repressive actions show that the international community can no longer give Beijing a blank check and hope that its behavior will simply change,” she went on to say.
She concluded, “While we must support and celebrate our athletes, America – and the world – cannot give our official imprimatur to these games or proceed as if there is nothing wrong with holding the Olympics in a country perpetrating genocide and mass human rights violations.”
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