The United States says it will not send government officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, after China pledged unspecified "countermeasures" against any such diplomatic boycott.
Last month, US President Joe Biden said he was considering such a diplomatic boycott amid criticism of China's human rights record, including what Washington says is genocide against minority Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang.
"The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses," White House press secretary Jen Psaki says.
"US diplomatic or official representation would treat these Games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that," Psaki says, referring to the People's Republic of China (PRC).
China's embassy in Washington has not commented.
Psaki says the diplomatic boycott, which has been encouraged by some members of the US Congress for months, would not affect the attendance of American athletes.
"The athletes on Team USA have our full support. We will be behind them 100 percent, as we cheer them on from home."
Earlier, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said those calling for a boycott were "grandstanding" and should stop, "so as not to affect the dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States in important areas".
"If the US insists on wilfully clinging to its course, China will take resolute countermeasures," he said.
READ MORE
- China threatens retaliation to planned US boycott of Beijing Olympics
- Labour's Louisa Wall calls for diplomatic boycott of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, for leaders to turn down invitations
The US is next due to host an Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles, raising the question of how China might respond in the interim.
Beijing says it opposes the politicisation of sports, but it has punished US sports leagues in the past, including the National Basketball Association, for running foul of its political red lines.
Chinese officials point out they have received more than 1500 applications from the US Olympic Committee, which is responsible for submitting names of American athletes to attend the Winter Games in February.
Nonetheless, they cite strict COVID-19 restrictions for plans to limit spectator attendance and Chinese state media says Beijing does not intend to invite Western politicians who have threatened a boycott.
Russia President Vladimir Putin is the only leader of a major country who has accepted China's invitation to attend.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States has consulted allies and partners on a "shared approach" to the Beijing Games in light of their concerns about China's human rights record.
On Friday, after meetings with US officials in Washington, EU diplomatic service chief Stefano Sannino said it was important to keep up pressure on China over abuses in Xinjiang, but that any boycott was in the domain of individual members states, not common EU foreign policy.
