Monday, December 6th, 2021
Despite threats from China
USA announce political boycott of the Olympic Games
The pressure built up over months. Now it’s official: the United States announces a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China. It has no effect on the participation of US athletes, but it does on the relationships between the competing superpowers.
The US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics as a sign of displeasure with the ongoing “genocide” in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and other human rights violations. Neither US President Joe Biden nor any other US government official will travel to the Games in February 2022. This was announced by the White House in Washington. Reports of the upcoming boycott announcement had already caused diplomatic tensions between the two superpowers in the past few days.
The US government will cheer for American athletes from home, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. When asked why the US government refrained from a complete boycott of the Games, Psaki said they did not want to punish the athletes who had trained intensively for the Games. And the government is of the opinion that this step will also send out a “clear message”. Psaki stressed that the US government had informed international partners of the decision and left it to them to make their own decisions.
The diplomatic boycott enables American athletes to take part in the Winter Olympics, but it is a calculated snub for America’s greatest economic competitor. The pressure on the government of the United States has been built up and upheld in recent months by Democrats and Republicans, human rights activists, but also by athletes like NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom. US President Biden had already spoken about a possible boycott in November.
China threatens “countermeasures”
Most recently, China threatened the US with “decisive countermeasures” in the event of a political boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. After the reports of such considerations by Biden, China’s Foreign Office spokesman Zhao Lijian reacted with sharp criticism early on Monday. Even before American politicians had even received an invitation, “they are exaggerating the boycott question,” said the spokesman.
“It is a mockery of the Olympic spirit, a political provocation and an attack on 1.4 billion Chinese,” Zhao Lijian told the press in Beijing. The Chinese people and the world would only see the hypocrisy and anti-Chinese nature of American politicians more clearly. China is criticized for its human rights violations, among other things, in its dealings with minorities such as the Uyghurs and Tibetans and the suppression of the democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Also unrest in Germany
The designated Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had also approached the boycott in an interview with the “taz” last week. “When I see how China’s leadership deals with tennis player Peng Shuai or with the arrested citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, we should of course also take a closer look at the Olympic Games. There are different ways for governments to deal with them in the coming weeks certainly to be discussed, “said Baerbock.
This had led to a sharp response from the new President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). Immediately after his election last Saturday, Thomas Weikert, the new President, recommended the Federal Foreign Minister-designate to choose her words better in the future. “Ms. Baerbock should just leave the church in the village, I’ll make that very clear,” said Weikert, who did not refer to a possible diplomatic boycott: “A boycott has never brought anyone anything. That would be really unfair to the athletes who have been preparing for so long now. “