The United States has announced that it is considering a discussion with its allies on the issue of a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, as pressure mounts from human rights groups and politicians.
"This is something we certainly want to discuss,"
said US State Department spokesman Ned Price on Tuesday, April 6, when asked whether the United States was considering a joint boycott with its allies.
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"We believe that a coordinated approach would not only be in our interest, but also in the interest of our allies and partners,"
he said, without revealing the administration's position on the issue. .
Later in the afternoon, Ned Price tweeted:
“As I mentioned we have no announcement to make about the Beijing Olympics.
2022 is still a long way off, but we will continue to consult closely with our allies and partners to define our common concerns and establish our joint approach to the Chinese Communist Party. ”
Several militant groups as well as Republican politicians have recently increased their call for an American boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
They rely in part on several NGOs and countries which accuse China of persecuting Uighur Muslims, in particular by placing them in internment camps where members of this minority are subjected, according to the testimonies of survivors, to various forms of abuse.
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The administration of President Joe Biden has never ruled out the possibility of a boycott of the Olympics, without announcing a firm direction.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in February that the administration would consult with the US Olympic Committee on the matter.
Beijing for its part denounces calls for a boycott and rejects any accusation of genocide against the Uighurs, presenting the supposed internment camps as
"vocational training centers"
.
The United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics after the USSR invaded Afghanistan, while the Soviet bloc responded four years later with a boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics.