BEIJING, December 7 – Chinese authorities warned this Tuesday that the US government’s boycott of the Winter Olympics, which will be held in the capital, could damage bilateral dialogue and cooperation in important areas.
“The United States will pay for its wrong actions,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who also announced that Beijing had lodged a formal protest with Washington over the boycott.
The Winter Games will be held from February 4-20 in the Chinese capital, which already hosted the Summer Games in 2008. Latin American network TeleSur reported that Zhao at a press conference criticized the White House’s action and urged “to leave politics outside the world of sports.”
The Chinese diplomatic spokesman denounced that the United States was “trying to disrupt the games on the basis of its ideological bias, lies and rumours.” But a boycott will make people around the world see more clearly his evil intentions, and further erode his credibility and morals.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang and asserted that the allegations are nothing more than part of a “smear campaign”.
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