Chinese citizens walk past a Beijing Winter Olympics sign in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China.
Lintao Zhang | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The United States and its allies are considering a joint boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the State Department said Tuesday.
“It [a joint boycott] is something we definitely want to discuss, ”state spokesman Ned Price told reporters when asked about the Biden government’s plans ahead of the international games.
“A coordinated approach is not only in our interest, but also in the interest of our allies and partners,” he added.
Price said the United States has not yet made a decision. The Olympics will take place between February 4 and February 20.
The potential diplomatic boycott of the games comes as the Biden government works to rally allies to put international pressure on China.
Last month, the United States imposed sanctions on two Chinese officials, citing their role in serious human rights violations against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. The sanctions of the Biden government are in addition to the measures also taken by the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Beijing has previously rejected US allegations that it committed genocide against the Uyghurs, a Muslim population indigenous to Xinjiang’s Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China. The State Department called such claims “malicious lies” designed to “smear China” and “frustrate China’s development”.
The sanctions came on the heels of a contentious meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and Alaska state councilor Wang Yi.
Ahead of the talks in Alaska, Blinken condemned China’s widespread use of “coercion and aggression” on the international scene and warned that the US will back down if necessary.
“China uses coercion and aggression to systematically erode autonomy in Hong Kong, undermine democracy in Taiwan, violate human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet, and assert maritime claims in the South China Sea that violate international law” , Blinken said at a press conference in Japan. .
Biden, speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping in February, has previously said that his approach to China would be different from that of his predecessor in that he would work more closely with allies to mount a backlash against Beijing.
“We will face China’s economic abuses,” Biden said in a State Department speech, describing Beijing as America’s “most serious competitor”.
“But we are also willing to work with Beijing if it is in America’s interest to do so. We will compete from a strong position by building better at home and working with our allies and partners.”
Tensions between Beijing and Washington ran wild under the Trump administration, which escalated a trade war and banned Chinese technology companies from doing business in the United States.
Over the past four years, the Trump administration has blamed China for a wide variety of grievances, including intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices and most recently the coronavirus pandemic.