The Biden administration has announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Beijing Olympic games. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has announced that no diplomatic or official US representatives will be sent to the 2022 Olympics, however, US athletes will still be permitted to attend and compete.

This semi-boycott is meant to show China that the US does not condone the abuse of their Uyghur population that has been going on over the past few years.

“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, crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses,” said Psaki in a press conference, “The athletes have our full support. We will be behind them 100%… we will not be contributing to the fanfare of the games.”

While the White House is marketing this move as a compromise between human rights activists and the athletes who have dedicated their lives to the intense training, some critics have condemned the half-hearted attempts as not making a sufficient impact on China. “China doesn’t care if Biden and Team show up. They want our athletes,” Tweeted former SC governor, Nikki Haley.

If the US really wanted to punish China for their human rights violations, they should take more drastic measures that would actually affect China in some negative way. Whereas now, as Haley suggested, the US is taking trivial action against the Communist country.

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