US to diplomatically boycott the olympics

By Neeha Zaman, 2022

Published 1/3/22

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has announced that the White House will not send an official US delegation to the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, meaning that no US government officials will be in attendance. This is meant to serve as a condemnation of China’s ongoing Uighur genocide, this announcement seeming to be an escalation of pressure by the US towards China regarding these human rights abuses. The US typically sends a delegation to the Olympics, with First Lady Jill Biden leading the delegation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

While there won’t be any US government officials in Beijing come winter, US athletes are still allowed to compete in the games. Psaki said that the athletes will still have the administration’s full support and that it did not seem fair to them to institute an entire US boycott, although this has happened before, in 1980 under the Carter administration.

In response to this news, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded, “The United States will pay a price for its mistaken acts.” Australia has joined the US in diplomatically protesting the Chinese government’s atrocities.