The United States will “pay a price” for its diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China mentioned on Tuesday, simply weeks after talks geared toward de-escalating strained ties between the 2 sides.
The White House mentioned on Monday that US authorities officers would boycott the Winter Olympics due to China’s “atrocities” on human rights, though American athletes had been free to go there to compete.
The US boycott, inspired for months by some members of Congress and rights advocacy teams, comes regardless of an effort to stabilize ties with a video assembly between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping final month.
China opposes the boycott and can take “firm retaliatory measures”, international ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian mentioned Tuesday at an everyday media briefing in Beijing, the host metropolis of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
“The United States will pay a price for its wrongful acts,” he mentioned with out giving particulars. “Let us all wait and see.”
The United States is about to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and is making ready a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Asked whether or not China would take into account a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic Games within the United States, Zhao mentioned the US boycott had “damaged the foundation and environment” of sports activities trade and cooperation on the Games, which he in comparison with “a crushing blow”. lifting the stone”. own foot”.
He known as on the United States to maintain politics out of the game, saying the boycott was towards Olympic rules.
Chinese media and students criticized the US determination.
“It is the folly and folly of the United States to do so,” mentioned Professor Wang Wen of Renmin University in Beijing, including that different main powers may do the identical to the United States in 2028.
“For US politicians who weren’t invited (to the Games) are staging a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, it’s just an ‘expression of unrequited love’,” Xinhua information company mentioned in a remark. “
Several Chinese Internet customers reacted to the information of the US boycott with expressions of “good riddance”.
A consumer calling herself “Thales Beauty” commented on-line, “Please don’t come, don’t bring a COVID virus variant here.”
Biden’s administration cited the boycott as a genocide towards minority Muslims in China’s far western area of Xinjiang.
China denies all rights abuses.
different international locations undecided
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki mentioned on Monday, “U.S. diplomatic or official representation will treat these Games as business in general in terms of human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, PRC, and we simply cannot do that.” ” For the People’s Republic of China.
“We have our full support for the Team USA athletes,” Saki mentioned at a media briefing. “We’ll be 100% behind them because we make them happy from home.”
George W. Bush was the final US president to attend the Games’ opening ceremony as host in Salt Lake City in 2004. Vice President Mike Pence attends the 2018 Winter Games on the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang.
It was unclear whether or not different nations would be part of the United States, though US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned allies had been consulted on a “shared approach”.
Canada’s international ministry mentioned it was “deeply disturbed by disturbing reports of human rights violations in China” and continues to debate the matter with companions and allies.
Australia, Britain and Japan have mentioned they’re nonetheless contemplating their stand.
New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, Grant Robertson, mentioned the nation wouldn’t ship authorities officers, however the determination was primarily based largely on COVID-19 considerations and preceded the US boycott.
Last week, the pinnacle of the EU’s diplomatic service, Stefano Sanino, mentioned the boycott was a matter for particular person member states, and never the overall international coverage of the EU.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is the one chief of a serious nation to have accepted the invitation.
Human rights teams welcomed the transfer, however mentioned Washington may do extra to carry China accountable.
However, some political analysts mentioned the boycott was much less a menace to the Games and extra a difficulty of attendance being provoked by Beijing by threatening retaliation.
“It would have been a non-story if it was left alone,” mentioned Lisa Delpy Nierotti, a professor of sports activities administration on the George Washington University School of Business.
“We don’t usually send a large government delegation anyway, especially in COVID times.”
The diplomatic boycott places company Olympic sponsors in “an awkward place,” however excluding athletes is much less a trigger for concern than an absolute measure, mentioned former CBS Sports president Neil Pilson, who oversaw Olympic broadcast rights offers. Is.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price informed reporters that the federal government wouldn’t dictate the practices of the non-public sector, however mentioned firms ought to take “full cognizance” of the occasions in Xinjiang.
A spokesperson for Comcast-owned NBC Universal mentioned it will air the video games as deliberate.
,
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
