Olympic Games 2022: what if the Winter Games in Beijing were boycotted?

More than forty years after the boycott, requested by the Americans and widely followed, of the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 to protest against the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops in 1979, will the Olympic Games once again be a stake in the world? chessboard of international politics in the coming months?

Ten months before the opening of the Beijing Games (February 4 to 20, 2022), it is possible.

The threat is in any case serious.

The United States announces that it is considering a discussion with its allies on the question of a boycott of the Beijing Winter Games in 2022 as pressure mounts from human rights associations and the political world across the Atlantic: "This is something we certainly want to discuss," said US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who was asked if the United States was considering a joint boycott with its allies.

"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 Biden administration's position on the issue. question.

World Protests Persecution of Uyghurs

Ned Price later tweeted: “As I mentioned, we don't have any announcements 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 Communist Party of China.

"

As I said, we don't have any announcement regarding the Beijing Olympics.

2022 remains a ways off, but we will continue to consult closely with allies and partners to define our common concerns and establish our shared approach to the PRC.

- Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) April 6, 2021

Nothing specific, therefore, on the American side, but a threat that could mount over the next few months.

Because several militant groups as well as Republican politicians are increasing their call for an American boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

They rely, in their request, on several NGOs and countries which accuse China of persecuting Uyghur Muslims, by placing them in internment camps where members of this minority are subjected, according to the testimonies of survivors, to various abuse.

The administration of Joe Biden, the new US president, has never ruled out the possibility of a boycott of the Olympics, without announcing a firm direction.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, for example, said in February that the administration would consult with the US Olympic Committee on the issue.

Beijing has not yet reacted to this threat concerning “its” Games.

But China regularly denounces calls for boycott and rejects any accusation of genocide against the Uyghurs, presenting the supposed internment camps as "vocational training centers".

For the Olympic movement in any case, the threat of boycott should be taken seriously because the Beijing 2022 Games would not be the only ones affected by a refusal of the Americans and their allies to participate.

In the 1980s, after the boycott of the Moscow Games, the USSR retaliated by boycotting those of Los Angeles in 1984. And Olympism had struggled to recover.