China has criticised the United States for announcing that it won't send diplomatic or official representation to the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The Chinese embassy in Washington called the boycott a pretentious act and political manipulation that would have no impact on the success of the Games, now just two months away.
The Foreign Ministry had earlier warned that any such move would be met with “firm countermeasures”, and indicated they could affect dialogue and cooperation between the two sides "in important areas".
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the diplomatic boycott on Monday.
"The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the PRC's ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses," Psaki told a daily press briefing.
"US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of the PRC's egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang, and we simply can't do that," Psaki said, referring to the People's Republic of China.
Beijing's embassy in Washington called the boycott "political manipulation" as no invitations had been extended to US politicians.
"In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to be successfully held," embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United States consulted allies on a "shared approach" to the Beijing Games. It was unclear if they would follow the US lead.
Beijing has repeatedly denied allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. (Additional reporting by Reuters)
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