Tuesday (December 7th): Biden’s boycott

Joe Biden
Joe Biden

Name? Joe Biden

Westphalian identity? US American

Age? 79

Why is he in the news? Last night the White House announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China. This announcement comes only days before Biden’s “Summit for Democracy,” meant to create a bulwark to defend democracy and human rights at home and abroad. 

Why do we care? Two weeks ago we wrote about the disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai over her sexual harrassment allegations against a member of the Chinese party. The US boycott has nothing to do with her, but the Women’s Tennis Association has cancelled all tennis tournaments in China over Peng Shuai’s safety. Biden’s boycott, however politically constructed it may be, is another clear message towards others and an invitation to follow his lead. 

Why should you care? We have discussed the human rights abuses in the Chinese region of Xinjiang numerous times and pointed out that Western countries are very outspoken about it, but never act on it. Biden’s boycott is an easy sacrifice, it is the equivalent to you posting about it on social media and then buying Nike shoes (allegedly) produced there. You should care, a bit more than a Social Media post, 9/10

Who else cares? Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to the USA Liu Pengyu. He managed to highlight the constructed messaging of this boycott better than any of us could have. He stated that “No invitation has been extended to US politicians whatsoever, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ simply comes out of nowhere.” 

Any further comments? As we mentioned above, this is an easy sacrifice for Biden. He makes a constructed “tough” statement and gets his Democracy Summit off to a good start. It also does not anger the other side (China) enough to leave the room and risk the ongoing diplomatic talks. (It also really helps domestically as the only thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on is their fear for China).

Joshua Dario Hasenstab

General Coordinator