Joe Biden attended an online meeting with Xi Jinping but the Olympics were not mentioned in the entire three-and-a-half-hour event ©Getty Images

The United States is said to be planning a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and will not send an official delegation in protest over the country's record on human rights.

The Washington Post reports that a boycott has been presented to US President Joe Biden and he is expected to approve it before the end of the month.

The Games are due to begin on February 4 2022.

Under a diplomatic boycott, US athletes would take part as normal but there would be no accompanying political delegation of officials and politicians.

The Washington Post report came the day after an online summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which multiple policy issues were raised but the Olympics were not mentioned.

"But I can tell you that was not part of [Biden and Xi's] conversation," deputy press secretary Andrew Bates is widely reported to have told reporters yesterday when quizzed about Beijing 2022 and the claim a diplomatic boycott was imminent.

"President Biden raised concerns about the [People’s Republic of China’s] practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as human rights more broadly," read the White House statement about the Biden-Xi meeting.

China's record on human rights has sparked protests over the country's hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty Images
China's record on human rights has sparked protests over the country's hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty Images

The Biden administration has upheld a determination made by that of former President Donald Trump that China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim population - including mass incarceration and forced sterilisations - constitutes a genocide.

China denies the charges laid against it, using security concerns to justify its actions.

The US has also been critical of what it sees as the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong and repressive Chinese Government measures in Tibet.

Leading Democratic and Republican figures have called for a diplomatic boycott for several months. 

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi ask in May: "What moral authority do you have to speak again about human rights any place in the world if you’re willing to pay your respects to the Chinese Government as they commit genocide?

“So, honor your athletes at home.

"Let’s have a diplomatic boycott… 

"Silence on this issue is unacceptable.

"It enables China’s abuses."

In March, Utah Senator Mitt Romney - a former Republican Presidential nominee - also argued for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

Romney argued that a full boycott would be counterproductive and said that President Jimmy Carter's decision to completely boycott the Moscow 1980 handed the Soviet Union a propaganda victory, insisting that US athletes should be allowed to compete at the Olympics and Paralympics.