WASHINGTON—
Critics say that the Biden administration’s foreign policy of boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics will only anger China and will not produce any substantive effects. East Asian experts believe that Biden’s move was mainly in response to the unanimous political pressure of the two parties in the country; and Beijing may retaliate by canceling bilateral meetings that are important to the United States.
The White House announced on December 6 that in view of concerns about China’s human rights record, the United States will conduct a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. White House spokesperson Saki told the media that the United States will not support the Beijing Games. In the face of China’s severe human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, “If American diplomats and official representatives attend, they will treat these events as business as usual. This is something we absolutely cannot do.”
Some people, including some members of Congress, criticized the Biden administration for its weakness in Beijing, believing that the U.S. government should fully boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, including not sending American athletes to participate.
What is the purpose of Biden’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics
The diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics announced by the White House means that the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representatives to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics; however, American athletes will go to Beijing to participate in the competition as usual.
Some critics believe that Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is just a meaningless neglect of Beijing. Doing so will only anger China, but will not produce any substantive effects. So, since Washington’s diplomatic boycott has no practical significance for Beijing to host the Winter Olympics in February next year, what are the goals and considerations of the Biden administration in taking this action?
Experts in East Asia and China studies told the Voice of America that President Biden’s final choice of a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics was mainly out of response to domestic political pressure.
Ma Zhao, a professor of East Asian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, told VOA that the US diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics was mainly a product of the pressure on China by the two parties in Washington. Washington’s concern about Beijing’s human rights issues and its dissatisfaction with Beijing’s high-handed policies on issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong have a long history.
“Especially after Trump’s full pressure in the latter part of his tenure, and Beijing’s escalation of political control over Hong Kong, etc., the two countries have not had much room for maneuver on these human rights issues. Biden can only basically inherit this. Sanctions and pressure on human rights issues in China are used to avoid being criticized by the Republican Party for appeasement of China,” he said.
In Ma Zhao’s view, in the current basic situation of strategic competition between the United States and China, Washington is naturally unwilling to be the Beijing platform in such an influential international event as the Olympics. However, considering that the focus of the Olympic Games is on athletes and competitions, rather than the diplomats present, “If the impact of a total boycott (not sending athletes) is too great, it will force Beijing to strongly counteract it. Diplomatic boycotts can be considered a compromise sanctions. form”.
Dr. Denny Roy, a senior researcher at the East-West Center, a US research institution, said that Biden’s US foreign policy emphasizes and values human rights issues, and he seems to be keen to use actions to refute the Republican Party. People attacked his claim that he and the Democrats had a weak attitude towards China.
“If Biden does not take any measures to punish China, especially when his own senior officials call China’s policy towards Uighurs’genocide,’ he will be severely criticized at home,” Rao Yi Say.
The California newspaper “The Press Democrat” (The Press Democrat) published a commentary by the columnist Trudy Rubin of The Philadelphia Inquirer on December 12. The article quoted Rubin as saying: “I think the Biden team made the right decision.”
Rubin believes that a full boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics would be unfair to athletes who have been training for this event for many years. Not only will this not cause China to change its behavior, but it may also lead to a tit-for-tat boycott of future events that the United States may host.
How will Beijing retaliate?
After the White House announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently stated that Beijing strongly opposes Washington not sending officials to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics. The spokesperson said, “The U.S. will pay for its wrongdoing. Please wait and see.”
Analysts generally believe that the US diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics will not have any direct impact on Beijing’s Winter Olympics, but it will inevitably weaken the effectiveness of the Chinese government’s use of hosting the Olympics to propagate itself. What countermeasures will Beijing take to retaliate against Washington’s diplomatic boycott?
Dr. Yi Rao of the East-West Center told the Voice of America that the most likely overall response from China would be to try to damage America’s global prestige, and in fact Beijing is already doing this. China’s criticism of the democracy summit convened by Biden is an example. Rao Yi said: “Beijing may also retaliate by canceling bilateral meetings that seem important to the United States.”
Ma Zhao, a professor of East Asian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, believes that in the face of diplomatic resistance from the United States and its allies, “it should be said that China’s countermeasures are limited.”
According to Ma Zhao’s analysis, there are probably three main areas that Beijing can do. One is to divide the US’s boycott alliance as much as possible, not only to rely on partner countries such as Russia, but also to attract the participation of neutral and friendly countries such as South Korea; the other is to downplay the political implications of the Olympics. Emphasize athletes and competitions, and try to divert media attention from politics and diplomacy.
“The third aspect is to transform external pressure into internal motivation, and use Western suppression to aggregate the domestic nationalist mentality and play a role in internal unity,” he said.
Does diplomatic boycott hinder the restart of U.S.-China relations?
Observers have noticed that Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has been anticipated by the media in the past few months. The reason why the Biden administration did not make an earlier announcement was mainly because it did not affect the holding of the first video summit between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November; because the bilateral relations between the United States and China, which have fallen to a low point in 40 years, should be restarted and improved as soon as possible. , Biden is facing domestic political and economic pressure.
On the other hand, as analysts have said, Biden’s two-handed strategy of conveying goodwill and showing toughness in its China policy was also largely motivated by coping with the unanimous pressure of both parties in the U.S. Congress; because Biden is unwilling to allow Its critics feel that he is weak towards Xi Jinping. However, will Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics hinder the development of bilateral relations that have just been restarted and improved?
East Asian experts told VOA that neither Washington nor Beijing may have too high expectations for the near-term prospects for the development of relations between the two countries.
Dr. Rao Yi said: “Obviously, the United States’ diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics will not help revive U.S.-China relations; but this is only one of the current serious problems. The diplomatic boycott is a smaller step than a full boycott. And this is something that has long been expected.”
Professor Ma Zhao believes that the “Worship-Xi” summit held not long ago is just a bottom line, red line and guardrail for the two countries to ensure that the competition between the two countries will not go out of control and full-scale confrontation.
“The debate between the two countries over democracy and human rights will continue and become part of the two countries’ hopes to compete for the right to speak and dominate international affairs,” Ma Zhao said.
Leave a Reply