Beijing has shot back after Washington declared a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics, saying American leaders hadn’t been invited to the event to begin with, and blasting the move as “political manipulation.”
Asked about the boycott announced by the Biden administration earlier on Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the US, Liu Pengyu, told Reuters the decision contradicted the “spirit” of the Olympics, but would have no negative effect on the games, set for China in February.
“Such a pretentious act is only a political manipulation and a grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter. In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be successfully held,” he said.
No invitation has been extended to US politicians whatsoever, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ simply comes out of nowhere.
Liu went even further in a follow-up post on Twitter, sharing a graphic with text denouncing the “State of Democracy in the United States.” It went on to say the American system was based on “a game of money in politics,” ruled over by a “minority elite,” and had a “trust crisis.”
