After the Biden administration said it is talking with its allies about boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics next year, China has warned the US not to do so.

China rejected the US's claims of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the politicization of the event will damage the sporting spirit of the Olympics and warned of a “robust Chinese response” to the potential Olympics boycott.

“The politicization of sports will damage the spirit of the Olympic Charter and the interests of athletes from all countries,” Lijian said. “The international community including the U.S. Olympic Committee will not accept it.”

The US state department had previously suggested that the Olympic boycott could be an option but a senior official later said that has not been discussed.

The International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic and Paralympic committee have said they are against the boycott of the tournament.

“We at the USOPC oppose athlete boycotts because they’ve been shown to negatively impact athletes while not effectively addressing global issues in the past,” Susanne Lyons, chair of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee board of directors, said at a media summit Wednesday.