The United States will send its athletes but no diplomatic representative to the 2022 Olympics due to human rights violations by China, particularly in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang (northwest), the White House announced on Monday. , ignoring Chinese warnings.

Asked to respond during a press briefing, Chinese diplomacy spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the United States of having violated the principle of political neutrality in sport.

"The United States' attempt to disrupt the Beijing Winter Olympics, based on ideological prejudice, lies and rumors, will only expose to all eyes the malicious intentions of the United States," a- he said.

Asked by AFP about possible reprisals from Beijing, the spokesperson kicked in touch.

"The United States will pay the price for its bad luck. Stay tuned," he said evasively.

Two months before the Olympics, some Beijingers have expressed their resentment.

"It is a lack of respect towards the athletes, don't you think?", Railed Mr. Han, a retired civil servant, met in Beijing not far from the Olympic park.

"Athletes have been training for years (for the Games) and the United States say without any embarrassment that their diplomats will not come. The American government is cowardly," he regretted.

"Sport is sport. What has this to do with politics?" Asked another Beijing resident, Mr. Wang, 72 years old.

"Less viruses"

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki justified the Biden administration's decision 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." she had declared.

"The Team USA athletes have our full support. We will be 100% behind them while we cheer them on from here," she added.

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.

"Frankly, the Chinese are relieved to hear the news, because the fewer American officials there are, the fewer viruses there will be," the Chinese tabloid Global Times quipped on Twitter.

Due to the restrictions imposed by China on the entry of foreigners in the name of the fight against Covid-19, few world politicians are expected to make the trip from Beijing, except for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has accepted. the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is delighted that Washington's "political" decision does not call into question the participation of American athletes.

The logo of the 2022 Winter Olympics, at Shougang Park in Beijing on December 1, 2021 Noel Celis AFP

"The presence of government officials and diplomats is a purely political decision for each government, which the IOC, in its political neutrality, fully respects," a spokesperson for the Olympic body told AFP.

Beijing "doesn't care"

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 the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang.

Several human rights organizations accuse Beijing of having interned at least a million Muslims in Xinjiang in "re-education camps".

The Chinese authorities systematically denounce "the interference" of Westerners who condemn this situation, assuring that they are "vocational training centers" to support employment and fight religious extremism.

The former head of American diplomacy under Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo called for a complete boycott of the Olympics.

"The Chinese Communist Party doesn't give a damn about a diplomatic boycott, because at the end of the day they still welcome athletes from all over the world," he said on Twitter.

The American diplomatic boycott is a new bone of contention with China in the field of sport, after the Peng Shuai affair.

The tennis player, who has represented her country three times at the Olympics, accused a former senior Chinese leader in early November of forcing her to have sex three years ago.

Worried about the player, the WTA, the body that oversees professional women's tournaments in the United States, decided last week to withdraw China from its circuit.

© 2021 AFP