US boycotts Winter Olympics for diplomatic reasons: Right move by the Biden administration?

The United States have announced their decision to boycott the Winter Olympics in China for diplomatic reasons.

The government has issued a statement clarifying that the country will not send an official delegation to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.

However, they added that since the athletes have worked hard in preparation for the event, they will not be stopped from attending the quadrennial event of their own accord.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed that the decision by the Biden administration has come based on not wanting to add more momentum to the “fanfare” of the Winter Olympics.

The Biden administration is in clear conflict with the human rights situation in China and wants to send their own message by boycotting the Olympics hosted in Beijing.

Psaki said (via the BBC): “US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang. We simply can’t do that.”

Our View

The US-China relationship has been declining for several years.

Opposing principles over the fundamentals of society has seen both countries take widely opposing stances on development.

Their economic success has been much debated, with China edging much further ahead presently.

However, questions have been raised over the cost paid by the regular Chinese people to achieve this progress.

More and more egregious atrocities of human rights stories occurring in China are being detailed to the public, with concerns over basic societal protocols being raised against the Chinese government at the moment.

The US decision, although layered with several underlying connotations of see-sawing power back to their side, must be encouraged as China continues to openly deny basic human rights to their citizens.

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