Zach Crawford
The White House throws water on the fire and makes it clear that the United States is not currently discussing a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Games. Spokeswoman Jane Saki said this after State Department spokesman Ned Price confirmed yesterday that the boycott hypothesis is among those being examined between the United States and its partners.
Boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled for February 4-13, 2022, which human rights activists have already called the “genocide games”. Joe Biden’s temptation is strong, and it is the dramatic confrontation to send an unequivocal message to the despot Xi Jinping: The United States will not stand idly by in the face of the extremely grave ethnic persecution that is occurring in China, starting with The White House itself did not hesitate to define “genocide of the Uyghurs “. According to United Nations data, more than a million people belonging to this population and other Muslim minorities are being held in forced labor camps in Xinjiang. But it is not the only case of the human rights violations of which the Asian giant is accused. Just think of the suppression of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and the old Tibet issue. An unbearable situation for the American president, who made the struggle against the suppression of freedoms in the world a cornerstone of the new foreign policy of the White House, be it China, Russia or Saudi Arabia. Spokesman for the US State Department Ned Price confirmed that the United States is considering joint actions with the allies, including the hypothesis of boycotting the 2022 Beijing Games, stressing that “a coordinated approach will not only be in our interest,” but also in the interest of our partners. “.
He explained that no decision had been taken yet. But his remarks angered the Chinese government, which returned to threaten a “strong response” against countries that decided, under US pressure, to contempt the event, with the risk of political and economic retaliation. “The international community will not accept such a thing,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijia, stressing that “the politicization of sport is inconsistent with the Olympic spirit and harms the interests of athletes in all countries.” In fact, if Biden were to go ahead with proposing forms of boycotting the Beijing Games, he would also have to deal with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which had already rejected the hard line hypothesis: “It would be a decision that only affects athletes. Without solving any global problems.” Cautioned Committee Chair Susan Lyons. The curbing of the boycott also appears to come from Berlin, where a German government spokeswoman confirmed talks with the Americans and other allies, stressing, however, that the “principle of the independence of sport” applies in general. According to experts, there are two possible scenarios, with a possible sports and economic boycott (sponsors and TV rights). On the other hand, the diplomatic boycott path is more viable, with the refusal to send representatives of its government to Beijing, a solution that could see Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and some European countries side by side with the United States. But not the Asian allies like Japan, South Korea and India.
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Laurence Malcom
