Joe Biden to attend Beijing Winter Olympics? Report says he might get a personal invitation from Xi Jinping

The United States President Joe Biden might get an invite by Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is scheduled to take place in February next year.

CNBC on Thursday (November 11), citing two people familiar with the matter, reported that the Chinese President is likely to extend his personal invitation to Biden when the two leaders will meet during a virtual summit.

Latest media reports have stated that the much-anticipated summit is scheduled for Monday (November 15) evening. The summit will be virtual, although, there isn't any official confirmation yet regarding the date and time.

The summit willbe held amid escalated tensions related to Taiwan; and how China has been treating Muslim ethnic groups in its western Xinjiang region. Several reports have accused China of committing crimes against humanity and possibly genocide against the Uyghur population. China has consistently denied it.

Also, a bipartisan group of US senators proposed an amendment recently to an annual defense policy bill that would prohibit the State Department from spending federal funds to "support or facilitate" the attendance of US government employees at the Games.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also called for a diplomatic boycott. However, there is no official statement that can provide clarity over US' stand on Beijing Winter Olympics.

Apart from the calls by the human rights groups for a partial or full boycott over reported abuses, preparations for the next year's Winter Olympics Games have been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic also.

As China reported on Friday (November 12) the first COVID-19 cases among foreign athletes at preparatory events. Two lugers of the same nationality tested positive, said Huang Chun, an official of the Games organising committee.

The Games will run from February 4 until February 20.