US government announces Boycott of the Olympic Games

From protest against human rights violations in China, the US has announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing. The spokeswoman of the White House, Jen Psaki, said on Monday in Washington, the government of President Joe Biden will not send diplomatic or official representatives to the Olympics to China. Background, the genocide in the autonomous region of Xinjiang and other human rights violations. But US athletes should participate in the games. Most recently, the disappearance of the tennis player Peng Squad for headlines had taken care of — and at the same time the IOC in the criticism.

Protest against human rights violations

The US government will cheer American athletes from home, Saki said. When asked why the United States did not decide for a complete boycott of the games, Saki said, they did not want to punish the athletes who had trained intensively for the games. And the government believes that a clear message is sent by this step. She emphasized that the US government has informed international partners about the decision and leaves them to make their own decisions.

The Winter Olympics will take place from 4 to 20 February 2022 in China. The authoritarian governed country is accused of many pages of human rights violations, especially against minorities such as Muslim Lifers. Human rights groups call as examples of Chinese reprisals the autonomous region Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Again and again, Boycott claims with regard to the local winter games are loud.

IOC welcomes the participation of the athletes

In a first reaction, the IOC described the presence of government officials as a purely political decision that the IOC is fully respected in his political neutrality. At the same time, this announcement also makes it clear that the Olympics and the participation of the athletes are beyond politics, and we welcome this, said an IOC speaker and referred to a Resolution of the United Nations adopted in the consensus of all 193 Member States.

This resolution contains compliance with the Olympic ceasefire for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Beijing 2022 and urges all Member States to cooperate with the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee in their efforts that sport as an instrument for the promotion of peace, dialogue and reconciliation in conflict areas during And to use after Olympic Games and beyond.

China reacts upset

Between the US and China, there are major political tensions because of the human rights situation, but also because of various other crowds. The ratio of both states has fallen to the deepest level since the diplomatic relations in 1979. Biden sees the most powerful competitors in China and the largest geopolitical challenge for the USA.

Already in mid-November, Biden had said that he was a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Games in China. After US media had reported that a proclamation of the decision by the US government immediately imminent, Beijing had already responded extremely upset and threatened with decisive countermeasures — even before the official announcement came from Washington.

China's Outdoor Office Speaker Zhao Fijian criticized on Monday, even before US politicians had an invitation at all, Boy Cottage Budge. Zhao Fijian said in Beijing: It is a mockery of the Olympic Spirit, a political provocation and an attack on 1.4 billion Chinese. The Chinese people and the world thus see the hypocritical nature and anti-Chinese nature of the American politicians only clearer.

Topic

Themed Archive

The case Peng Squad

on the subject

Peng Squad had alleged allegations at the beginning of November in the social network Weibo because of a sexual assault by a Chinese top politician.

Immediately attacked the censorship, deleted their post and since then prevents any discussion in China's Internet.

Also, the player was initially no longer seen in public, which had worried the international tennis world.

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