On February 15, Republican Representative Michael Waltz introduced a resolution urging the United States to boycott the scheduled Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Waltz said that the US, in its good conscience, cannot send American athletes to celebrate an event hosted by ‘a brutal dictatorship’. He further warned that the Communist Party of China would gain from the event.
Today, Rep. Waltz introduced a resolution to call on the U.S. Olympic Committee to withdraw from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing unless an alternative site is found due significant human rights violations carried out by the #CCP.https://t.co/genTDIjCb6
— Congressman Waltz Press (@RepWaltzPress) February 15, 2021
In the resolution, Waltz proposed that the United States Olympic Committee should propose to transfer the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to a site outside the People’s Republic of China. He further said that if the International Olympics Committee rejects the proposal, the United States Olympic Committee and the Olympic Committees of other countries should boycott the 2022 Olympic Games.
In the resolution, Waltz said considering the alleged heinous acts carried out by China Communist Party in the last one year alone should have disqualified them from hosting 2022 Winter Olympics. He further added, “The world cannot legitimize the CCP’s acts of genocide in Xinjiang, destruction of the democratic rights of Hong Kong, and dangerous suppression of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan that cost lives by sending delegations to Beijing.”
‘Allowing China to host the Olympics will be immoral, unethical and wrong’
The resolution further stated that the Olympic Games is a celebration of international culture, a festival of humanity and is intended to be independent of political, ideological and diplomatic disagreements. If China is allowed to host such an event while organized atrocities in the XUAR are ongoing; where the freedoms of Hong Kong’s citizens are being trampled; where the fundamental right to worship is brutally persecuted; and where evidence of Covid-19’s origin was allegedly intentionally hidden, it would be immoral, unethical and wrong.
Calls for ‘clean Olympics’
Earlier this week, a human rights activist, writing for a USA paper, had written that China does not deserve the honour of hosting the Winter Olympics. He had urged for clean Olympic Games and urged that the International Olympic Committee should consider changing the venue.
Recounting the innumerable atrocities the dictatorial regime of the Communist Party in China has committed over the years, Teng Biao, a Chinese human right activist, wrote that the world should at least this time, organize a “Clean Olympics” elsewhere.
“Since 1949, China’s Constitution has guaranteed basic freedoms. The regime has signed many international human rights documents to deflect foreign criticism. In 1997, Beijing promised no change in Hong Kong for 50 years”; however, all this has been just an eye-wash, claimed the activist.
Activists had called to shift Winter Olympics to October 2020
In October 2020, activists had compared upcoming Winter Olympics in China to the Olympics Germany hosted under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Hashtag #MoveTheGames trended on Twitter with an aim to urge the organizers to move the venue for Winter Olympics 2022 out of China.
In October 2020, UK also announced that it might boycott Winter Olympics 2022 if more evidence makes it clear that there has been a gross violation of the Human Rights of Uyghur Muslims in China. The foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said, “Generally speaking, my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics, but there comes the point when it is not possible.”
