The White House announced Monday that the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics.

A diplomatic boycott would mean that no United States government officials would attend the games but U.S. athletes would still be allowed to compete.

On Monday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the boycott at its regular press conference.

“I would like to reiterate that the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is a gathering for all winter sports athletes and lovers around the world. It is them that should be in the spotlight,” said spokesperson Zhaoe Lijan.

“I want to stress that the Winter Olympic Games is not a stage for political posturing and manipulation. US politicians keep hyping a ‘diplomatic boycott’ without even being invited to the Games,” Lijan added.

“This wishful thinking and pure grandstanding is aimed at political manipulation. It is a grave travesty of the spirit of the Olympic Charter, a blatant political provocation and a serious affront to the 1.4 billion Chinese people.”

Lijan warned that any boycott would impact dialogue and cooperation between the U.S. and China in important areas and would take “resolute countermeasures.”

Last month, President Joe Biden said the U.S. was considering a diplomatic boycott after he virtually met with China’s leader Xi Jinping.

China has been accused of detaining more than a million Muslims in Xinjiang, many of them Uyghurs, cracking down on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and for its policies towards Tibet and Taiwan.

Since taking office, the Biden administration has been under pressure from lawmakers to move forward with the diplomatic boycott in response to China’s human rights abuses.

Calls for either a diplomatic or full boycott of the games have grown since Chinese tennis stat Peng Shuai disappeared last month after making sexual assault allegations against a former senior official of the Chinese Communist Party.

Other countries have also said they would impose such a boycott — along with Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

The last time a mass Olympic boycott took place was in 1980 — when the administration of then-President Jimmy Carter led more than 60 nations in boycotting the Moscow Olympics over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan the year prior.