Washington is considering not sending officials, while letting athletes compete in the Olympic events next February.
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The President of the United States, Joe Biden, is considering diplomatically boycotting the Winter Olympics scheduled for February in Beijing, to protest against human rights violations in China. “This is something we are considering”, he told reporters Thursday, November 18. This measure would consist of not sending government officials to represent Washington at the competitions, while allowing American athletes to participate.
Several Republican “hawks” urge Joe Biden to announce a total boycott of sports competition by officials but also athletes, to denounce the repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, described as “genocide” by the US government. But many elected officials from all sides, including the Democratic President of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Senator Mitt Romney, plead for this diplomatic boycott.
China protested strongly when Nancy Pelosi made this assumption in May. the Washington post reported Tuesday (in English), citing sources familiar with the matter, that the White House should soon announce that it has chosen this path. The daily specifies that President Biden should “approve” by the end of November this option, which was formally recommended to him by his advisers.