In the western world, there has been talk for a while about a possible boycott of the Beijing Olympics in protest against how China treats the Uighur population in Xinjuang province.

And many countries, including EU countries, have imposed sanctions on China to shed light on the situation of the Uighurs.

A report from an American think tank recently stated that it was a genocide.

Something that China calls "the biggest lie of the century".

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday that the United States would talk to its allies about possibly considering a boycott of the Winter Games.

"A coordinated approach is not only in our interest, but also in the interest of our allies," he said.

He later clarified in an email that they would not specifically discuss a joint boycott but only a coordinated approach to China.

Price's counterpart in China, Zhao Lijian, said on Wednesday that a boycott would be to politicize the sport, which is against the Olympic spirit and would harm the interests of the athletes.

"The international community would not accept that," Zhao said.

The White House has previously signaled that it has no plans to ban American athletes from competing in the Beijing Games.

It could possibly be a diplomatic boycott by no political representatives of the United States, and perhaps its allies, going to Beijing.

Sweden has so far been awaiting a boycott.

CLIP: International votes raised against Beijing Olympics (March 8, 2021)

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be turned on to play video

Read more about browser support

The browser is not supported

SVT does not support playback in your browser.

We therefore recommend that you switch to another browser.

Read more about browser support

International votes are raised against the Beijing Olympics