The U.S ruffled some feathers earlier this week when a representative of the Biden administration suggested that the U.S. would consider boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The U.S. is not happy with the growing human rights abuse in China and a boycott of the 2022 Olympics was expected to send a strong message.
A number of other countries are also contemplating boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the U.S was expected to join forces with these allies.
The Olympic games are scheduled to take place from Feb 4 to Feb 20 – 2022.
The reasons why the U.S. and other countries are rumoured to be looking at a potential boycott of the Olympics is due to the on-going human rights abuse in China directed at the Uyghurs.
Forbes Breaking News
The Uyghurs are an indigenous community who live in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and are of the Islamic faith. There are numerous reports that Beijing has tortured the Uyghurs and is committed genocide. However, all of these allegations have been shot down by Beijing who claims that this smear campaign has been designed to tarnish the reputation of China and slow down its development process.
U.S State Department Clarifies Stance
The U.S State Department was quick to release a statement on the matter and clarify its stance claiming that no decision to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics was made nor were there any official discussions on the matter held.
A former senior official with the Treasury Department who preferred to be anonymous said that if the U.S decided to boycott the Beijing Olympics, it would send a Cold War statement. The U.S. issued sanctions in March 2021 against two officials from China over their alleged roles in serious human rights violations. The U.S. was not the only country to impose these sanctions as the U.K, Canada and the E.U have already imposed similar sanctions.
The Trump administration took a tough stance against China and tensions escalated a number of times. The Biden administration is keener on working with China and sorting out conflicting issues instead of directly imposing China.
The official from the Treasury claimed that it would make more sense for America to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and send a strong message by dominating and winning at the Olympics than by skipping the Olympics.