WASHINGTON - A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United States has rebutted a Washington Post editorial on the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"The Olympics should be about sports, not politics," Minister Counselor Liu Pengyu wrote in a letter to the newspaper's editorial board on Jan 25 in response to the article "China has a message for Winter Olympic athletes: Shut up and ski," dated on Jan 22 under The Post's View.

"Beijing 2022 should be an international arena for the Olympic spirit, not political manipulation," Liu continued. "It is unethical to take the athletes hostage in the name of 'free speech' and force them to 'speak out' against International Olympic Committee rules, especially when narratives have been adversely impacted by the US government and some media outlets."

The Chinese diplomat pointed to a debunked claim that there has been a genocide in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, stressing that "Xinjiang's Uyghur population grew from 8.34 million to 11.62 million in the past two decades, with an average annual growth much higher than the national average."

"If there had been any genocide, how could the Uyghur population have increased so much?" Liu asked.

"The Beijing Winter Olympics will be a huge success. Every participant will be a winner," he concluded. "The only losers are the rumormongers who make futile attempts to politicize sports."

Part of Liu's letter was published by paper on Jan 30.

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics will take place on Friday, with competition running on Feb 2 - Feb 20.