The world took notice in December when the United States announced its diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, a move motivated by protest of human rights abuses against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Other countries followed — Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom among them — and though athletes from those countries will compete without restriction in Beijing, government leaders from those countries won’t attend the Olympic Games.
“U.S. diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as business as usual in the face of the (Chinese government)’s egregious human rights abuse and atrocities in Xianjing, and we simply can’t do that,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “As (President Joe Biden) has told (President Xi Jinping), standing up for human rights is in the DNA of Americans. We have a fundamental commitment to promoting human rights, and we feel strongly in our position.”
But what is a diplomatic boycott, exactly? Let’s explain: