The United States Monday announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a calibrated rebuke of China’s human rights record that stops short of preventing US athletes from competing.

The decision comes after Washington spent months wrangling with what position to take on the Games, hosted in February next year by a country it accuses of perpetrating “genocide” against Uyghur Muslims in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

There was no immediate reaction from Beijing, but the Chinese foreign ministry had earlier threatened “resolute countermeasures” to any such boycott.

The decision was broadly welcomed by rights groups and politicians in the US, where President Joe Biden has been under pressure to speak out against Chinese rights abuses.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration would send no diplomatic or official representation to the Games given China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”

Sending official representation would signal that the Games were “business as usual,” Psaki said.

“And we simply can’t do that.”

“The athletes on Team USA have our full support. We will be behind them 100 percent as we cheer them on from home,” she added.

The International Olympic Committee said the sending or not of officials was a “purely political decision for each government, which the IOC in its political neutrality fully respects.”

The announcement “also makes it clear that the Olympic Games and the participation of the athletes are beyond politics and we welcome this,” an IOC spokesperson said.

Diplomatic high-wire act

US-China relations hit a low point under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, with a massive trade war and incendiary debate over how the Covid-19 virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Biden has sought to re-engage with Beijing, while at the same time focusing on strengthening traditional US alliances to counter China’s ever-growing economic clout and military presence across the Indo-Pacific region.

The Olympics boycott is part of a complex diplomatic balancing act.

Biden’s administration has left Trump-era trade tariffs on China in place and continues to order naval patrols through sensitive international sea lanes that China is accused of trying to bring under its control.

However, with Biden also emphasising the need for dialogue, critics on the right say he is being too soft.

This makes the looming Olympic Games a political flashpoint.

Members of Team USA, their coaches, trainers and other staff will still receive consular and diplomatic security assistance, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

When asked about calls for private businesses to end any Winter Games sponsorships, he stressed that the decision was up to them.

“It is not in this country — unlike other countries — the role of the government to dictate the practices that the private sector should adopt,” Price said.

‘Powerful rebuke’

Campaigners say that at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim minorities have been incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang, where China is also accused of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour.

Bob Menendez, the chair of the powerful US Senate foreign relations committee, welcomed the diplomatic boycott as “a powerful rebuke” of the “genocide in Xinjiang.”

He and top House foreign affairs Democrat Gregory Meeks called for other countries to follow the US lead.

Meeks warned the international community should not be helping China “whitewash its atrocities against Uyghurs and other minorities.”

But Republican Senator Tom Cotton called it a “half measure, when bold leadership was required.”

“The United States should fully boycott the Genocide Games in Beijing,” he said in a statement.

The last full boycott of the Olympics by the US was in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter withdrew in protest against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch called the Biden administration’s decision “crucial” but urged more accountability “for those responsible for these crimes and justice for the survivors.”

Earlier Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned the Games were “not a stage for political posturing and manipulation” — in response to reports a boycott could be imminent.

“If the US is bent on having its own way, China will take resolute countermeasures,” he vowed.

Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the United States, said that politicians calling to boycott the Games “are doing so for their own political interests and posturing.”

“In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the #Beijing2022 to be successfully held,” he tweeted.

Coming just six months after the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Summer Games, the Winter Olympics will be held from February 4 to 20 in a “closed loop” bubble because of Covid-19 restrictions.

“To be honest, Chinese are relieved to hear the news, because the fewer US officials come, the fewer viruses will be brought in,” tweeted the Chinese state-owned tabloid newspaper, Global Times.

Source: AFP

Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has hit back at a “disrespectful” claim that his only remaining ambition is to win the Ballon d’Or more times than Lionel Messi.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Messi won the prestigious award for a seventh time on Monday.

Ronaldo, who finished sixth in this year’s voting, has earned the Ballon d’Or five times.

The Ballon d’Or, given to the best male and female footballers of the year, is voted on by 180 journalists and presented by France Football.

Pascal Ferre, the editor in chief of France Football, was quoted in the New York Times recently saying Ronaldo told him his primary motivation was to retire having won the accolade more often than his old rival Messi.

Ronaldo, 36, took to Instagram to deny that suggestion.

“Today’s outcome explains Pascal Ferre’s statements last week, when he said that I confided in him that my only ambition was to finish my career with more Ballon d’Ors than Lionel Messi,” Ronaldo wrote.

“Pascal Ferre lied, he used my name to promote himself and to promote the publication he works for.

“It is unacceptable that the person responsible for awarding such a prestigious prize could lie in this way, in absolute disrespect for someone who has always respected France Football and the Ballon d’Or.

“The biggest ambition of my career is to win national and international titles for the clubs I represent and for the national team in my country.

“The biggest ambition of my career is to be a good example for all those who are or want to be professional footballers.

“The biggest ambition of my career is to leave my name written in golden letters in the history of world football.”

Ronaldo, who did not attend Monday’s prize-giving event in Paris, last won the Ballon d’Or in 2017.

This year marked the first time the former Juventus and Real Madrid striker finished outside the top five voting since 2010.

Messi’s seventh success extended his lead in the male category after he set the record with his sixth in 2019.

Barcelona and Spain midfielder Alexia Putellas won the 2021 women’s Ballon d’Or.

Source: AFP

Robert Lewandowski is in the running to retain his Best FIFA Men’s Player award after he was named Monday on an 11-man shortlist alongside Karim Benzema and Jorginho.

Perennial candidates Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo feature among the nominees, with Neymar, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappe also up for a prize first awarded in 2017.

Erling Haaland, N’Golo Kante and Kevin De Bruyne complete the list of potential winners.

Four Barcelona players are included on the women’s best player shortlist – Alexia Putellas, Jennifer Hermoso, Aitana Bonmati and Caroline Graham Hansen.

Chelsea, beaten by Barcelona in last season’s Women’s Champions League final, also have four representatives with Sam Kerr, Ji So-yun, Magdalena Eriksson and Pernille Harder.

Lucy Bronze, who took home last year’s award, was nominated with fellow England international Ellen White.

Canada’s Olympic gold medallist Christine Sinclair is in contention too, as is Stina Blackstenius of Sweden.

Thomas Tuchel is a frontrunner for best men’s coach after leading Chelsea to the Champions League title. He faces competition from Roberto Mancini, the mastermind of Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph.

Other nominees are Hansi Flick, Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Diego Simeone and Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni.

The prizes for the best men’s and women’s player, coach and goalkeeper are voted for by the captains and coaches of all national teams around the world, as well as an online ballot of fans and a select number of journalists.

Voting will run from November 22 to December 10.

The three finalists in each category will be revealed in early January, with the awards ceremony to be held virtually from FIFA headquarters in Zurich on January 17.

The separate Ballon d’Or award ceremony will be staged in Paris on November 29.

Source: AFP