US boycott of Beijing Olympics over ‘Uyghur genocide’: Justified or a total farce?

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has repeatedly been saying that his country wants no confrontation or conflict with China. Even in his speech to the US Congress, Joe Biden has set out a vision for "competition, not conflict" with the eastern power. 

During online talks with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, President Biden said there was a "need for common-sense guardrails to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict and to keep lines of communication open". 

But the US is actually doing the opposite of what it has promised to its people and the world. 

The US administration is sparing no efforts to confront China as if it is determined to spoil any kind of success for China. In the process, the US has politicised the foremost sports events of the world: the Olympics. 

In a fit of mere jealousy of China's success, the US has long been trying to stain the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Their efforts have been sustained and consistent. 

Influential senators like Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have been calling upon the US government to initiate a diplomatic boycott of the event from 2018. In the process, they have labelled China as "a country that is engaged in genocide". 

Even President Biden said the US is "considering" a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on November 18 2021. 

On December 6 2021, White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, announced that the Biden administration would initiate a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2022 Winter Paralympics. 

The diplomatic boycott would bar all US government officials from attending the games in an official capacity. The White House cited China's mistreatment of the Uyghur people as the reason for the boycott.

It could easily be said that the US has long been trying to spoil the Beijing Olympics. But the all-out efforts by the collapsing superpower have gone in vain. 

Only the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Lithuania, and Japan have joined hands not to send their high officials to China for the Olympics. No other country has listened to the US and its allies in this regard.  

Analysts are of the view that the US has totally been sidelined by the international community over boycotting the Olympics in Beijing. The US has created a debacle as the entire boycott was based on lies of so-called human rights violations and genocide in Xinjiang. 

The world knows well that the allies have long been spreading the lies of the genocide of this ethnic group in Xinjiang, but the Uyghur population has constantly been growing for decades. 

Just one day before the Biden administration took office, Pompeo said that China was committing genocide and crimes against humanity in its repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. 

Though Pompeo came up with the accusation last year, the US and its allies have long been working on creating a suitable pretext of making the allegation against China.

Therefore, some like-minded Western politicians and their favorite media are running a propaganda war over Xinjiang. As part of the war, they are disseminating one after another fake news of concentration camps, mass detention, mass surveillance, human and labour rights violations, genocides, crimes against humanity, forced birth control, etc. 

However, many delegations of the Organisation of Islamic Countries, UN Human Rights Commission, journalists, diplomats, religious leaders, and politicians have debunked the propaganda by visiting Xinjiang and witnessing the situation on the ground by themselves.  

The US and its allies never take into account the actual situation on the ground in Xinjiang. They never pay heed to the accounts of the aforesaid official eye-witnesses. Nothing can stop them from running the propaganda of genocide in Xinjiang.

Their outright lies have naturally been debunked as the truth can never be suppressed. Many experts and analysts have dug out the truth behind the Western propaganda stories. 

The population of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang speaks volumes of their real conditions. Everyone knows if the accusations of genocide are true, the population of the group would decline. 

But the fact is that in the four decades between 1978 and 2018, the Uyghur population in Xinjiang has increased from 5.55 million to 11.68 million, accounting for 46.8% of the total population of the region.

The latest census data released by the regional statistics bureau said that the population of the Uyghur rose by 1.62 million, or 16.2% in the last decade. Population has not been the only positive indicator in the region. 

Education attainment has increased in the region, with people receiving a better education and more years of schooling. The number of people with a university or college education rose to 16,536 per 100,000 people from 10,635 per 100,000 people in 2010.

With stable socio-economic development in Xinjiang in recent years, the region has attracted talents and investors to work or start a business, ensuring a steady growth of the local population. As a result, abject poverty has bid adieu from the region forever. 

In 2020, the per capita disposable income across urban areas of Xinjiang stood at 34,838 yuan, demonstrating an average annual growth of 5.8% during the past five years. In rural areas in Xinjiang, per capita disposable income was 14,056 yuan, an

8.3% increase each year over the same period.

Many questions can arise as to what type of genocide has happened in Xinjiang where the population has witnessed a fresh rise. Many wonder how Xinjiang continues to post vast economic growth and socio-educational development if there are any crimes against humanity in the region. 

They have raised the question whether the "genocide" is helping the Uyghur population grow in Xinjiang. That is why no country except for Anglo-Saxon allies joined the much-hyped efforts to boycott the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Analysts believe that the US and its allies also knew that their all-out efforts must fail to gain ground among the global community. But they continue their endeavors to facilitate propaganda campaigns against China. 

Many think that the hype of boycotting the Olympics is nothing but a propaganda stunt against China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had received at least 18 US applications for diplomatic visas and the South China Morning Post reported that another 40 may come in ahead of the opening ceremonies.
 
Md Enamul Hassan is a news editor at the China Media Group (CMG) in Beijing, China.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.