Zhao Lijian, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, said the country would take “decisive counter-measures,” but did not elaborate.
The United States said on Monday that it will not send ambassadors to Beijing due to worries over China’s human rights record. It went on to say that US athletes would be welcome to participate and would get full government backing.
Mr Zhao accused the US of violating “political neutrality in sport” and claimed the potential boycott was “based on lies and rumours” at a press conference on Tuesday.
- China’s Inner Mongolia quarantines tourists over virus fears
Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player, had a video conversation with the IOC chairman, but it didn’t alleviate her safety concerns.
Tensions between the two countries are at an all-time high. The United States has accused China of genocide in its suppression of the largely Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang’s western province, an accusation China has categorically refuted.
Relations are also strained over China’s suppression of political freedoms in Hong Kong, and because of concerns for the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who was not seen for weeks after she accused a top government official of assault.
The Women’s Tennis Association last week suspended all tournaments in China because of “serious doubts” about Ms Peng’s safety.
‘Political posturing’
High-level government representatives – from the US and other countries – are usually present at Olympic Games. Earlier this year, First Lady Jill Biden led the US delegation at the summer Olympics held in Tokyo.
But on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the US would not contribute to the “fanfare” of the Olympics. She said not sending an official delegation to the 2022 Games “could send a clear message”.
“US diplomatic or official representation would treat these games as business as usual in the face of… egregious human rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang,” she said. “We simply can’t do that.”
However, Ms Psaki added the US government did not feel it was right “to penalise athletes who had been training for this moment”.
On Chinese social media platform Weibo, the search topic “US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics” was censored as of Tuesday morning.
Most of the comments below a post on the announcement by state media outlet Global Times were also deleted, leaving only eight out of close to 1,500 comments untouched.
“The Olympics are for athletes, what does it have to do with… politicians? Even if you boycott, the only people you’re hurting are your own countrymen (including athletes),” one such comment read.