US will pay the price for boycotting Olympics, will take actions: China

China opposes the boycott and would take "resolute countermeasures", foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said

The US will have to "pay a price" for its diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China said, just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the two sides.

China opposes the boycott and would take "resolute countermeasures", foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular media briefing in Beijing, the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Zhao said the US boycott had "damaged the foundation and atmosphere" of sports exchange and co-operation on the Games, adding that the boycott went against Olympic principles.

Biden's administration highlighted as the reason for its boycott what Washington calls genocide against minority Muslims in China's far western region of Xinjiang.