China Not to Invite US Politicians to Winter Olympics

On Monday, outlet Global Times reported that China has no plans to invite Western politicians and officials who are calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

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Although China will not invite them as host country, the International Olympic Committee has the last word in inviting foreign leaders.

"The Winter Olympics are a great event for athletes from around the world and fans of winter sports. They are not a platform for political manipulation," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said regarding the possibility that President Joe Biden decide not to attend the Games.

The Chinese diplomat Chinese accused the United States of "violating the Olympic Charter" and "its principle of sports political neutrality."

Previously, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that Biden is contemplating a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games, which will begin on February 4 in Beijing, over human rights violations in China.

In July, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Games for "human rights abuses". The vice president of the International Olympic Committee John Coates, however, assured that the committee "does not have the capacity to go to a country and tell it what to do", a comment that was "valued positively" by the Chinese Foreign spokesman Zhao Lijian, who declared that China will oppose "the politicization of sport."

The Winter Olympic Games will be held under strict prevention measures against covid, including a prior quarantine of 21 days after arriving in Beijing for those athletes who are not vaccinated and the exclusion of the public from abroad. Beijing 2022 will be the third consecutive Olympic event to be held in Asia, after the 2018 one in Pieonchang (South Korea) and the last Tokyo Games.