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Last night, the United States officially announced that it would not send a diplomatic mission to the Beijing Winter Olympics to be held next year. China's human rights violations were cited as the reason for the boycott, but there is a possibility that Western countries, including Europe, will also declare their absence.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won reports from New York.
The
White House has officially announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
[Jen Saki/White House Spokesperson: The Biden administration will not send an official diplomatic mission to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
A diplomatic boycott means not sending a government delegation to opening and closing ceremonies.
[Jen Saki / White House spokesman: Action for handling and dispatching the Government delegation to such events and also the US government is usually the Olympics with an awful human rights violations and atrocities in China in the eyes of such kidneys can not be possibly]
United States The government said, however, that athletes who have trained hard over the past four years will participate in the Olympics normally.
This policy was announced a few days before the hosting of the 'Democratic Summit' prepared by President Biden to contain China, and is expected to have a ripple effect.
It is because the UK, Canada, and Australia are already known to be considering a diplomatic boycott, and there is a possibility that the boycott discussion will spread to 110 countries participating in the Democratic Summit, including Europe.
China has already warned that it will take counter-attack measures if the US decides to boycott, so the tension between the US and China is likely to deepen.