US confirms it will stage diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics

The White House has confirmed it will stage a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, in the latest move that will further widen the rift in an already strained bilateral relationship.

The announcement comes two months before the games are to begin. American athletes are still expected to compete in the Olympics, despite the Biden administration not sending any representatives to Beijing.

The US last staged a full boycott of the Olympics during the cold war in 1980, when the former president Jimmy Carter snubbed the Moscow summer Games along with 64 other countries and territories, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year.

Politicians including Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, have advocated a boycott as protest.

The calls for the boycott intensified in recent weeks after concerns rose over the treatment of the Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai. The 35-year-old former doubles world No 1 last month accused a former senior Chinese politician of having coerced her into sex.

Rights groups have also seized on the opportunity to urge the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympics.