China government
Drew Pavlou, left, and Max Mok show some of the 1,000 shirts they plan to hand out to patrons ahead of Saturday's women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. As he was being ejected for wearing a shirt with a Where is Peng Shuai? slogan, Max Mok saw an opportunity to amplify the message at the Australian Open. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
Where is Peng Shuai? Australian Open T-shirts grab attention

By John Pye 4 hrs ago

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping tours the National Speed Skating Oval, a competition venue for the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. Competition for the Winter Olympics is scheduled to begin on Feb. 4. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP)
China spends billions on Olympics with longer-term goal

By Graham Dunbar 24 hrs ago

A man wearing a hat baring an American flag and face mask to help protect from the coronavirus walks by a masked security guard near lanterns decoration on the remnants of a city wall in Beijing, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. China is demanding the U.S. end “interference” in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin next month, in an apparent reference to a diplomatic boycott imposed by Washington and its allies. The Foreign Ministry said Minister Wang Yi made the demand in a phone call with U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday Beijing time. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
China demands US halt Olympics 'interference'

Jan. 27, 2022 01:50 AM EST

FILE - A woman holds up a ligt candle and a phone showing the image of the 1989 tank man protester during a candle vigil to mark the anniversary of the military crackdown on a pro-democracy student movement in Beijing, outside Victoria Park in Hong Kong, Friday, June 4, 2021. As Beijing prepares to hold the Winter Olympics opening in February 2022, China's president and party leader Xi Jinping appears firmly in control. The party has made political stability paramount and says that has been the foundation for the economic growth that has bettered lives and put the nation on a path to becoming a regional if not global power. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
From Tiananmen to Hong Kong, China's crackdowns defy critics

By Ken Moritsugu Jan. 27, 2022 12:20 AM EST

FILE - Chinese authorities test fireworks ahead of the Aug 8 start of the Olympic Games on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, Saturday, Aug 2, 2008. Richer, more heavily armed and openly confrontational, China has undergone history-making change since the last time it was an Olympic host in 2008. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
China 2008 vs 2022: Richer, stronger, more confrontational

By Joe Mcdonald Jan. 25, 2022 11:08 PM EST

Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. (, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Putin backs China over 'politicization' of Beijing Olympics

Jan. 25, 2022 07:07 AM EST

FILE - Fireworks explode over Beijing's Tiananmen Square to help mark the closing of the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 24, 2008. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics open in just over a week. When Beijing held the Summer Olympics in 2008 the International Olympic Committee predicted they could improve human rights, and Chinese politicians hinted at the same. There are no soaring promises this time. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)
China less worried about global criticism these Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 25, 2022 12:29 AM EST

A woman looks at her phone as she passes an Olympic logo inside the main media center for the Beijing Winter Olympics Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Report: Chinese Olympic app has serious security flaws

By Alan Suderman Jan. 18, 2022 02:18 PM EST

A worker wearing a protective suit takes a swab for a COVID-19 test at a community testing site in northern China's Tianjin Municipality, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. Most access to a major city adjacent to Beijing was suspended Thursday as the government tried to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus's easily transmitted omicron variant ahead of next month's Winter Olympics in the Chinese capital. (Chinatopix via AP)
China faces omicron test weeks ahead of Beijing Olympics

By Huizhong Wu Jan. 13, 2022 01:15 AM EST

FILE - Staff members rehearse a victory ceremony at the Beijing Medals Plaza of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China on Jan. 3, 2022. The Beijing Winter Olympics are fraught with potential hazards for major sponsors, who are trying to remain quiet about China's human rights record while protecting at least $1 billion they've paid to the IOC. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
IOC major sponsors mostly muted in runup to Beijing Olympics

By Stephen Wade Jan. 11, 2022 12:11 AM EST

FILE - Yasuhiro Yamashita, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, poses for photographers prior to a press conference Monday, June 28, 2021, in Tokyo, ahead of the opening of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 23. Japan announced Friday, Dec. 24, 2021, it won't send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Games but three Olympic officials will attend, a mixed response to a U.S.-led move to boycott the games to protest China's human rights conditions. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto, Kazuyuki Mori, the president of the Japan Paralympic Committee, and Yamashita will attend. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Japan won't send government delegation to Beijing Olympics

By Mari Yamaguchi Dec. 23, 2021 11:39 PM EST

FILE - Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, listens to a reporter's question during a press conference as Coe visited an athletics test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games at National Stadium in Tokyo, Sunday, May 9, 2021. With track and field adding another Diamond League event in China, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe addressed the human rights issues in the country during his state-of-the-sport talk Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
Coe discusses adding meet in China in state-of-track talk

By Pat Graham Dec. 21, 2021 03:40 PM EST

FILE - Peng Shuai of China reacts after scoring a point against Monica Niculescu of Romania during their women's singles match of the China Open tennis tournament at the Diamond Court in Beijing, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017. The head of the women’s professional tennis tour announced Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, that all WTA tournaments would be suspended in China because of concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a Grand Slam doubles champion who accused a former high-ranking government official in that country of sexual assault.(AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Peng Shuai tells paper she never wrote of being assaulted

Dec. 19, 2021 10:09 PM EST

Austrian leader: won't go to Beijing games, but no protest

Dec. 14, 2021 02:53 AM EST
BERLIN (AP) — Austria's leader says no high-ranking politicians from his country will attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, but he says that is entirely because of...

FILE - Demonstrators hold placards and flags during a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in London on Dec. 9, 2021. The location of the Winter Olympics in Beijing is certain to draw global attention to acts of genocide against the Uyghur people committed by the Chinese government. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
As Olympics open, Uyghurs set to take rights case to court

By Stephen Wade Dec. 13, 2021 11:38 PM EST

Portugal's Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, right, greets German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. European Union foreign ministers met Monday to discuss how to thwart the threat of a possible new Russian invasion of Ukraine and what measures to take should Moscow decide to send its troops across the border. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
EU has little appetite to join US diplomatic Games boycott

By Raf Casert Dec. 13, 2021 07:08 AM EST

New elected German Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock attends a press conference after a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, at the Quai d'Orsay, in Paris, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (Gonzalo Fuentes, Pool Photo via AP)
Germany warns Russia will pay a price if it enters Ukraine

By Frank Jordans And Thomas Adamson Dec. 09, 2021 06:14 AM EST

A visitor to the Shougang Park walks past the a sculpture for the Beijing Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. China on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, threatened to take "firm countermeasures" if the U.S. proceeds with a diplomatic boycott of February's Beijing Winter Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China dismisses UK, Canada Olympic boycott as 'farce'

Dec. 09, 2021 06:05 AM EST

FILE - China's Peng Shuai reacts during her first round singles match against Japan's Nao Hibino at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 21, 2020. IOC President Thomas Bach can't escape repeated questions about Peng and suspicions around two video calls the IOC has had with her. The questions keep coming. And Bach has acknowledged the situation is “fragile.” (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)
Even amid boycott, IOC still hit with Peng Shuai questions

By Stephen Wade Dec. 08, 2021 10:33 PM EST

In this grab taken from video, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Johnson says no U.K. government minister will attend the Beijing Olympics. Johnson on Wednesday called it “effectively” a diplomatic boycott. Johnson was asked in the House of Commons whether the U.K. will join the United States, Australia and Lithuania in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games. (House of Commons/PA via AP)
EXPLAINER: What does an Olympic diplomatic boycott achieve?

By Graham Dunbar Dec. 08, 2021 05:45 PM EST