Allies Britain, Australia and Canada will follow… China: “The U.S. must fight back if it acts arbitrarily”
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce a ‘diplomatic boycott’ this week, which will send only the athletes to the Beijing Winter Olympics to be held in February next year, and not an official delegation made up of high-level government officials or politicians. reported Major allies such as the UK, Australia and Canada, which were considering boycotting with the US, are also expected to join the boycott when the US announces it.
CNN reported that “according to multiple sources, the Biden administration is expected to announce this week that it will not send U.S. officials to the Beijing Olympics,” CNN reported. CNN evaluated the move as sending the US message to China to the world without blocking US athletes from participating in the Olympics. The National Security Council (NSC), which has been discussing the boycott in private, declined to comment on CNN.
President Biden directly mentioned the diplomatic boycott on the 18th of last month, three days after the video summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the time, he said at the White House that it was “a matter under consideration” when asked by reporters about the diplomatic boycott. “We are seriously concerned about human rights violations in Xinjiang,” White House press secretary Jen Saki said at a briefing on the same day. US politicians and human rights groups have been calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics by holding the Chinese authorities accountable for the human rights abuses of the Xinjiang Uyghurs.
In response to the CNN report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhao Lijian said at a regular briefing on the 6th, “The United States should stop politicizing sports and stop the so-called ‘Beijing Olympics boycott’ so that dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States are not disrupted.” If this dogmatic action is taken, China will surely take decisive measures to counterattack.” Reporter Lee Eun-taek nabi@donga.com
Beijing = Correspondent Ki-yong Kim kky@donga.com
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