The United States could be boycotting the 2020 Winter Olympics which is set to take place in Beijing, China in February 2022. On Thursday, President Joe Biden said he’s considering a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics, which would be a rebuke to China over its alleged human rights abuse, according to USA Today.
When asked about a boycott, Biden said it’s “something we are considering.” The comment comes days after Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a virtual summit about tensions between the two countries. If the U.S. boycotts the Winter Olympics, it could lead to other countries skipping the games also.
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Human rights advocates have lobbied for the White House to boycott the game for the last several months. The Chinese government is hoping the Olympics can help the country’s reputation as it will bring millions of viewers. While Biden can lobby for a diplomatic boycott, he does not have the power to launch a full boycott as that belongs to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
“We strongly believe that the governments of the world, including our own, and the respective diplomatic teams and experts should lead the conversation about international relations,” USOPC chief executive officer Sarah Hirshland said last month. The last time U.S. athletes boycotted the Olympics was the 1980 Games in Moscow. Then-President Jimmy Carter view the boycott as a sanction after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Several other countries joined the boycott, which led to the Soviet Union boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It’s very important for the world to realize how serious a threat the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is,” Carter said, per the New York Daily News in 1980. “I personally do not want to inject politics into the Olympics and I would personally favor the establishment of a permanent site for both the Summer and Winter Games.”
In 2014, then-President Barack Obama declined to send the vice president, first lady or any of his secretaries to the Sochi Games as a rebuke of Russia’s anti-gay laws. During the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in South Korea, then-Vice President Mike Pence declined to stand when members of the Korean unified team were introduced.
