(FreedomBeacon.com)- This week, the White House announced that the US would stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics to protest China’s human rights abuses. And the Chinese aren’t particularly pleased.
On Tuesday, Liu Mingche, counselor for the Chinese Embassy in Russia said the US boycott hurts the spirit of the Olympics. He said it harms the athletes and fans and is “a senseless desecration of the sacred Olympic spirit.”
At the same time, Liu doesn’t think the boycott will make any impact, adding that opposition “that violates the true democratic spirit will not be approved.”
Because if anyone knows about the “democratic spirit,” it’s China.
Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, vowed that there would be “resolute countermeasures” to the US boycott. In a press conference on Monday, Zhao called the decision “political posturing and manipulation.”
A diplomatic boycott will not prevent US athletes from competing in the Beijing Olympics which begin in February.
On Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House stands behind the US Olympic team and will be cheering them on from home. But the administration will not contribute “to the fanfare of the games.” In protest of Beijing’s “egregious human rights abuses,” especially regarding the slave labor in the Xinjiang province, Psaki explained, no US diplomat or government official will “treat these games as business as usual.”
While the White House’s decision did receive bipartisan support in Congress, some argued that a diplomatic boycott did not go far enough with some Republican lawmakers calling on the President to boycott the games entirely.
Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty said in a statement on Monday that Biden’s diplomatic boycott was “the bare minimum” and the administration should do more to hold China accountable.
Hagerty’s sentiments were echoed by Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. Hawley told the Daily Caller that Biden’s diplomatic boycott was “a joke,” arguing that Beijing won’t care “if Biden and his team show up. They want our athletes.”
Utah Senator Mitt Romney, meanwhile, praised the White House, calling Biden’s decision the right one.
