The U.S. will have a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, the White House announced on Monday.
The boycott is a result of the “egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday.
A diplomatic boycott would involve the U.S. not sending any official representatives or diplomats to China to watch the Olympics, but would still allow American athletes to compete.
“The athletes on Team USA have our full support,” Psaki added.” We will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home.”
Sending government officials to the Olympics is usually the norm for the U.S. Former President George W. Bush attended the 2008 Olympic Summer Games that were also held in Beijing, and First lady Jill Biden attended the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Prior to the announcement by the White House, China said a U.S. diplomatic boycott would be “outright political provocation,” and threatened to take “firm countermeasures” if the U.S. staged a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games.
