"The US and its vassal forces are getting evermore undisguised in their moves against China aimed at preventing the successful opening of the Olympics," the agency quoted a letter from the country’s Sports Ministry addressed to the Chinese organizers of the 2022 Olympic Games.

"We could not take part in the Olympics due to the hostile forces’ moves and the worldwide pandemic, but we would fully support the Chinese comrades in all their work to hold splendid and wonderful Olympic festival," the letter reads.

On December 6, 2021, Washington announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, saying that no US officials would attend the Games. The Biden administration later informed its allies and partners overseas of the move, leaving them the right to decide for themselves on attending the Beijing Olympics.

Demands for boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics were earlier voiced by politicians from Canada, Norway, and the United States as well as by representatives of about 200 human rights organizations around the globe over China’s alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang autonomous region.

In response, China slammed the US decision as a political ploy that ran counter to the Olympic Charter and vowed to take retaliatory measures. Australia and Japan joined the US diplomatic boycott of the Games. New Zealand, in turn, said that its officials would not travel to Beijing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held from February 4-20, while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held on March 4-13.

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