President Joe Biden on Thursday said he was mulling a potential diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Biden floated the possibility of a boycott of the Olympics as members of Congress have called for the administration to use the Games as an opportunity to send a message to China over its human rights violations.
“It’s something we’re considering,” Biden said in response to a question about a boycott in the Oval Office after holding a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price previously said in April that the prospect of a joint boycott of the Beijing Olympics is “something that we certainly wish to discuss,” with other nations.
An administration official told CNN Wednesday that Biden is not expected to attend the Olympics and that while he has not signed off on preventing government officials from attending, the administration was leaning toward a diplomatic boycott.
The topic was not brought up during Biden’s virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday night, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Thursday.
“We see it through the prism of competition, not conflict, that is our objective,” Psaki said of the U.S. relationship with China.
Earlier Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on the Biden administration to mount a full boycott of the games.
“No athletes, no administration officials, no corporate sponsors,” Cotton, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a press conference.
Cotton cited China’s treatment of its Uighur population as well as security issues such as “ubiquitous surveillance” during the games, stating the administration has “no plan” to protect U.S. athletes, coaches and Olympics staff.
“For these reasons, the safety and security of our own athletes and China’s crimes against the world, we should launch a complete and total boycott of China’s genocide Olympics,” he said.
In February, a group of three congressmen introduced a resolution calling for a U.S. boycott of the games, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called for an economic boycott in which the U.S. companies would not sponsor Olympic activities and U.S. spectators would not attend.
Copyright 2021 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
Just more Biden negotiation tactics of “You scratch my Back, or buy more of Hunter’s $500K paintings and I’ll Drop the boycott” Fake patriotism by the Biden crime family Patriarch doing what he does best,,,i.e. enriching himself and covering Hunter’s Chinese business delt laundered money with a blanket of media B.S. His foreign “Prism of competition” deserves “Prison for criminal Ambition sans cogent cognition.” where Americans are told to run in the wrong direction to score a touchdown for the Opposite team.
Joe’s idea of a Triathlon is a “Curley, Moe and Larry” led nation where not just glass ceilings get broke, but everything inside the American house from plumbing to ceiling fans.
Following in the footsteps of Jimmy Carter and the 1980 Moscow Olympics over Afghanistan. President Carter waited until April to decide, and sprang it on the Olympians without much warning that wasn’t good for public relations. Nothing was accomplished, and in 1984 the Russians boycotted Los Angeles. That time quite a number of nations joined in, this time it might not be so easy. Biden isn’t as popular, Chinese influence over many nations is different than that of Russia in those days. Not consulting with the athletes who have been training for four years didn’t help matters either.
GOOD. BOYCOT everything to do with China!!!
Human rights issues what the he11 are they doing to Americans. They have taken away our human rights for the power over millions of American citizens who pay for their lavish lifestyles while “trying” to keep us covered,vaccinated and broke.
I wonder, will AUSTRALIA boycott? CAUSE THEIR human right abuses of their own citizens, CERTAINLY IS AS BAD As china is.