US Plans To Pay Athletes To 'Sabotage' Beijing Olympics, Says China
NDTV
China's allegation against the US comes a week before the Olympic games start amid tensions between the two superpowers.
China's foreign ministry and an official newspaper have accused the United States of planning to interfere with and "sabotage" the Beijing Winter Olympics by paying athletes from some countries to make half-hearted efforts in competition and to criticise China.
The allegations were made a week before the Games start amid tensions between the two superpowers that has included a diplomatic boycott of the event by the United States, which has been joined by several other countries.
Asked about the Chinese allegations, the US Embassy in Beijing on Saturday reiterated a previous position that Washington was not coordinating a global campaign regarding participation at the Olympics.
China Daily, an English-language newspaper run by the ruling Chinese Communist Party's Publicity Department, on Friday evening cited unnamed sources as saying United States has a plan to "incite athletes from various countries to express their discontent toward China, play passively in competition and even refuse to take part".
