China has warned the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada that it will pay the price for its diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics next February in Beijing in protest of human rights violations, while France called for a common European position in this regard.

On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that those countries that will send athletes to the Olympic Games but will not send official officials;

She will pay the price for what he described as her wrong actions.

"The use of the Olympic arena by the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada for the purposes of political manipulation is unpopular and amounts to self-isolation," he added.

He added that his country did not send invitations to the countries concerned, considering that whether its official representatives attended or not, the Winter Games in Beijing would be successful.

The United States had initiated the announcement of its diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics because of what it described as the genocide of the Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region (northwest China).

The White House said last Monday that the administration of President Joe Biden will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing due to the continuation of what it described as genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights violations.

On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed a bill restricting imports of products manufactured in Xinjiang to denounce the subjection of Uighurs to forced labor.

Rights groups accuse China of holding up to one million Uighur Muslims - whose total number is close to 11 million - in detention camps in Xinjiang since 2017.

On the other hand, Beijing denies these accusations, and talks about programs to combat extremism among the Uyghurs.

Le Drian and Birbock at a press conference in Paris (European News Agency)

common position

For his part, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said today that there is a need for a common European position on a possible diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will be held from February 4 to 20 of the same month.

Lourdian's statement came during a joint press conference in Paris with his German counterpart Annalina Birbock shortly after French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said that France would not join the boycott initiated by the United States and joined by Britain, Australia and Canada.

Because of China's restrictions on entry of foreigners in its fight against the Corona epidemic, a few foreign political officials are expected to come to Beijing.

But there will be a prominent presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who accepted the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.