Hi, this is Tracy in Richmond, Virginia, and I'm about to watch my daughter who is a senior in high school

Perform in her school's play the first live theater we've seen since March 2020

You are listening to the NPR politics podcast which was recorded at very exciting

234 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, December 8th things may have changed by the time you hear this

But I will be holding back tears as I see my daughter perform

Enjoy the show

Hey there. It's the NPR politics podcast. I'm Las Makhalla. I cover the White House. I'm Mara Laiasin national political correspondent

And today we are joined by NPR's very own John Ruich

He covers China and the US relationship with China. We are glad to have you back on the show John

Hey, very happy to be here. Thanks

So we have you here because no US officials will be attending the Winter Olympics in China this coming February

Earlier this week the Biden administration announced that it will not send any official or diplomatic representatives to the Beijing

2022 Olympics because of China's quote ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity

Somara let's start with that

You know put this in plain terms what exactly is the White House saying the White House is saying it wants to express its

disapproval for China's human rights record without

Disadvantaging athletes that have spent years and years preparing for these games

To be very clear US athletes are still going to games like there is no ban on that and this is just means that

Say the president or the first lady or any other you know

US official will not be there in the stands. That's exactly right

So John, I think that some of this you know

It's a bit glossed over maybe here in the United States in terms of what we mean when we're talking about human rights abuses in China

...