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US President Joe Biden Considering Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics

US President Joe Biden Considering Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics

It's understood his absence would be a protest against human rights violations within China.

Max Sherry

Max Sherry

The White House looks set to announce that President Joe Biden will undertake a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

It means Biden himself, or any American government official for that matter, will not be in attendance to watch Team USA compete at the Games next year.

It's understood his absence would be a protest against human rights violations within China.

PA

A spokesperson for the White House admitted that the "diplomatic boycott" wasn't mentioned to Chinese President Xi Jinping at their recent three-hour virtual summit, although reports from The Washington Post claim Biden is poised to approve the move.

In not completely boycotting the Beijing Games, it means the athletes who have been training for this moment their entire lives are still able to complete on the biggest stage of all.

That said, for the US President not to show up would still be a huge statement.

PA

While the move still hasn't been signed off, it seems to have been well received by a lot of people online.

"I've long advocated for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games and I'm hopeful that the Administration will send a strong message to the CCP, without punishing US athletes," Republican Senator Mitt Romney tweeted.

Elsewhere, people like Michael Mazza from the American Enterprise Institute say the US and other world leaders should have done more sooner to ensure the Games were stripped from China altogether.

"We're now faced with suboptimal options. The one the White House settled on may make us feel good about ourselves, but it shouldn't. A diplomatic boycott will do little to actually help Uyghursand other victims of abuses," Mazza said.

"They would be talking to the press every day about what they're seeing in China. There's a risk here that, if the United States tried to send a delegation like that, China doesn't let them into the country. And I say make them do that quite publicly."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: olympics, united states, Australia, Winter Olympics, China,