The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden’s “diplomatic boycott” of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. China had warned the move would be seen as a “provocation.”
The ‘boycott’ would still allow American athletes to compete and ultimately would not affect the games’ proceedings. No American president has actually boycotted the Olympics since Jimmy Carter’s failure to go to Moscow in 1980.
Beijing threatened “firm countermeasures” earlier on Monday should the Biden administration announce a so-called diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, dismissing Washington’s move as “purely wishful thinking and grandstanding.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian also said Beijing would consider the move an “outright political provocation” during a briefing on Monday. He declined to offer details on how China might respond to the slight.
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