Joe Biden said he was considering a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, in a move that would inject fresh tension into the US-China relationship just days after his first meeting with that country’s leader Xi Jinping.
Speaking in the Oval Office alongside Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, Biden, the US president, on Thursday said a diplomatic boycott was “something we are considering” when asked whether he was contemplating the move.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration issued several strong statements about China’s persecution of Uyghurs. Antony Blinken, secretary of state, has accused Beijing of committing “genocide” in Xinjiang, where the regime has detained more than 1m Muslim Uyghurs and other minority ethnic groups.
Biden’s statement came after several months during which his administration had been less vocal about Xinjiang, sparking concern from human rights groups that the US president was muting his criticism ahead of last Monday’s virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
Congress also appears to have lost momentum in its efforts to pass legislation designed to counter China, including a bill that would bar US companies from importing goods made with forced labour in Xinjiang.
Xi and his lieutenants have told US officials they should ease their criticism of the situation in Xinjiang to improve relations, which have been mired in their worst state since the countries normalised ties in 1979.
The Winter Olympics are scheduled to open in Beijing in February. Earlier this year, a state department spokesperson said the US was consulting with allies about the possibility of a diplomatic boycott, which would involve Washington and some allies not sending delegations to the Games.
Two people familiar with the internal debate said Biden was considering a boycott but had not consulted widely with allies. China has also not made clear whether it will invite foreign delegations, ostensibly because of its highly restrictive policies on visits to China because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden and Xi held a more than three-hour video call on Monday, in which both leaders stressed the need to make sure that competition between the powers did not generate an even greater deterioration of relations. Biden said the two presidents had a responsibility to ensure that competition “does not veer into conflict”.
Human Rights Watch has also called on the corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games, including Visa and Coca-Cola, to explain why they were willing to endorse the Games given concerns about the alleged suppression of rights in Hong Kong.
“There are just three months until the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but corporate sponsors remain silent over how they are using their influence to address China’s appalling human rights record,” Sophie Richardson, head of the China programme at Human Rights Watch, said last week.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzU5ZWNlMmQwLTliNjctNGFjMi05NjJkLTZkZmY5MzYyZWY4NdIBP2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzU5ZWNlMmQwLTliNjctNGFjMi05NjJkLTZkZmY5MzYyZWY4NQ?oc=5
2021-11-18 20:53:23Z
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