Europe 1 with AFP 9:09 p.m., December 6, 2021
The United States will not send any diplomatic representatives to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, due to the "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang," the White House announced on Monday.
On the other hand, American athletes will participate well in the competitions.
The United States will not send any diplomatic representatives to the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, due to the "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang," the White House announced on Monday.
By being present, "the American diplomatic representation would treat these Games as if nothing had happened, despite the gross human rights violations and China's atrocities in Xinjiang. And we simply cannot do that," argued the Minister. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki.
American athletes present
With this boycott, no representative of the United States government will attend the Olympic or Paralympic Games, but American athletes will participate well in the competitions. "The Team USA athletes have our full support. We will be 100% behind them while we cheer them on from here," said Jen Psaki.
For months, the US government had been looking for the best way to position itself with regard to the Winter Games, a popular and global event organized from February 4 to 20, 2022 by a country it accuses of perpetrating a "genocide" against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, northwest China.
Several human rights organizations accuse Beijing of having interned at least a million Muslims in Xinjiang in "re-education camps".