Biden Says U.S. ‘Considering’ Diplomatic Boycott of the Beijing Olympics

U.S.|The U.S. is ‘considering’ a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, Biden says.

• Nov. 18, 2021, 3:25 p.m. ET

President Biden said connected Thursday that the United States was considering a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics successful Beijing amid increasing unit to clasp China accountable for quality rights abuses.

The boycott would mean that nary U.S. authorities officials would be the Games, which are slated to statesman successful February, though it would not forestall U.S. athletes from competing.

As helium met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Mr. Biden responded to a reporter’s question astir the imaginable for a diplomatic boycott by saying it was “something we are considering.”

The remark came aft hawkish Republicans person for months called for the medication to usage the Olympics arsenic an accidental to punish China implicit quality rights violations. In a call this week with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, Mr. Biden raised concerns astir abuses successful Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, according to a White House statement, arsenic good arsenic Beijing’s economical policies that the medication has sought to marque a absorption of its overseas argumentation strategy.

But the 2 leaders did not sermon the Beijing Olympics earlier this week.

“They didn’t speech astir the Olympics during the meeting,” Jen Psaki, the White House property secretary, said connected Thursday. “We spot it done the prism of competition, not conflict, that is our objective.”

But Ms. Psaki acknowledged “we bash person concern,” noting the quality rights abuses. “I privation to permission the president the abstraction to marque decisions,” she said.

Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, who ran the committee that organized the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, called successful March for an economical and diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Olympics for China’s quality rights abuses against Uyghurs successful the Xinjiang portion and its crackdown connected protesters and journalists successful Hong Kong. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, called connected Thursday for a full boycott of the event.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has besides called for the president to withhold a U.S. delegation from attending, though she has said athletes should beryllium capable to compete.