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The U.S. is poised to announce a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, CNN reports, a relocation that will intensify stress in between the worlds 2 largest economies.The choice not to send any U.S. government officials to the games beginning Feb. 4 will be revealed this week, the media outlet reported Monday, citing numerous people it did not identify.China said U.S. politicians need to stop calling for a diplomatic boycott to avoid hurting bilateral ties and that Beijing would take “countermeasures” if essential, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday.Those calling for a boycott are “grandstanding” and need to stop “so as not to impact the dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States in important areas,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said. Washington has actually also accused Beijing of reducing political freedoms in Hong Kong and ramping up military pressure on Taiwan, which receives strong U.S. support.Australia and Canada are also apparently considering diplomatic boycotts of the spectacle.China denies charges made by the U.S. and legislators in other Western countries that it is devoting genocide in the far western Xinjiang region, which has a large Muslim Uyghur population. Beijing has actually likewise lashed out at the U.S. over a potential diplomatic boycott, stating sporting occasions should not be politicized.Adding to the frictions between Beijing and Washington, Biden will host a virtual democracy top Thursday and Friday, with Taiwan amongst the more than 100 invitees that consist of the U.K. and Japan.The event intends to bring together democratic federal governments to discuss their efforts to combat corruption and authoritarianism and advance human rights.
