WASHINGTON, December 7. / TASS /. The Chinese Embassy in the US has castigated Washington’s statement regarding a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics as "a pretentious act" and "a political manipulation," Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the US Liu Pengyu told TASS on Tuesday.

"No invitation has been extended to US politicians whatsoever, so this ‘diplomatic boycott’ simply comes out of nowhere. Such a pretentious act is only a political manipulation and a grave distortion of the spirit of the Olympic Charter," the Chinese diplomat said.

"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," Liu Pengyu mentioned.

On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the US decided to stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Olympics in China. At the same time, she clarified that this did not apply to the US athletes who can take part in the Games.

Calls for boycotting the Olympics in Beijing were earlier voiced by politicians from Canada, Norway, and the United States as well as by representatives of about 200 human rights organizations around the globe. The reason behind the calls for the boycott regards China’s alleged mass repressions of ethnic Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in the Chinese capital of Beijing are scheduled to be held between February 4 and 20, while the Paralympic Winter Games will be held on March 4-13.