China’s Washington D.C. also tweeted that “no one would care about whether these people come or not.”
China has spoken out about the U.S.’s plans to diplomatically boycott the 2022 Beijing Games, calling it a “farce” that undermines the spirit of the Olympics, according to the Associated Press. The Biden administration announced plans on Monday to not send diplomats to the Olympics next year due to human rights concerns, the Ap reported. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a conference that U.S. athletes will still be able to attend, but that they hold a “fundamental commitment to promoting human rights” and thus will not send representatives. This move comes as the two countries are attempting to work together to curb climate change. The U.S. and human rights organizations have accused the country of a multitude of crimes, including suppressing elections in Hong Kong and enacting human rights violations against Muslim Uyghurs, the AP reported. China has denied all such allegations. However, they are criticizing the U.S. for their decision to pull potential diplomatic figures from the games. The country’s United Nations mission referred to the boycott as a “self-directed political farce,” while the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that “no one would care about whether these people come or not” in a tweet. As for the country itself, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the country will take appropriate action against the boycott, saying it “seriously violates the principle of political neutrality of sports established by the Olympic Charter and runs counter to the Olympic motto ‘more united.'” During a press conference, Zhao said that “resolute countermeasures” will be implemented against the U.S. as a result of the diplomatic boycott. While he did not go into detail about what these countermeasures entail, they could affect the future of the climate change agreement the two countries vowed to uplift. Newsweek previously reported that the threat of the recently-minted agreement goes as far back as January 28, 2021, with Zhao saying that the country is ready to cooperate with the U.
