U.S. Officials Announce Beijing Olympics Boycott Over Looming Concerns of Human Rights Violation

The Index Today — The White House on Monday announced top government officials’ decision to boycott the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics that is set to kick-start in Beijing on February 4th over concerns of China’s gross violation of human rights. This comes just mere weeks after discussions were held to ease the strained relations between America and China.

While China decried any form of cruelty, the Biden administration addressed the Chinese atrocities meted out to the Uighur Muslim community in the west of Xinjiang.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington repudiated the decision, calling it a “political manipulation” that will not affect the Olympics in any way. The Chinese Mission to the United Nations claimed in a statement that "the U.S. just wants to politicize sports, create divisions and provoke confrontation.” They further allege that this move “will find no support and is doomed to fail."

Speaking to the press, the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that."

Even as China continues to rally against this move, it has proven to be a welcome one to Human Rights groups across the globe.

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