Republican House resolution urges US to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing

EXCLUSIVE: Republican MP Mike Waltz presented a resolution on Monday urging the United States to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing if they are not moved, saying the United States “cannot in good conscience” have American athletes celebrating an organized event for “a brutal dictatorship” and warning that the Communist Party of China would be “encouraged by the legitimacy conferred by the Olympics”.

The resolution, first obtained by Fox News, urges the United States Olympic Committee to “propose the transfer of the 2022 Winter Olympics to a location other than the People’s Republic of China” and, if rejected by the International Olympic Committee, which “The Olympic Committee of the United States and the Olympic Committees of other countries must withdraw from the 2022 Olympic Games.”

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The resolution alleges “unprecedented measures” by the Chinese Communist Party last year to “extend its repressive policies through censorship, intimidation and detention of individuals and groups for exercising their fundamental human rights, especially in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang and Hong Kong ; “mass internment camps, forced labor and efforts to intensify campaigns that bring religion in China” under closer official control “and to hide the new coronavirus.

The resolution states that “the Olympic Games are a celebration of international culture, a festival of humanity and aim to be independent of political, ideological and diplomatic disagreements”.

“However, hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics in the PRC, where atrocities organized in XUAR are underway; where the freedoms of Hong Kong citizens are being trampled on; where the fundamental right of worship is brutally pursued; and following the global devastation of COVID-19; it would be immoral, unethical and wrong “, states the resolution.

“Think about what we went through last year as a country – what it is doing to our children, our elderly people, our families in terms of coronavirus,” Waltz, R-Fla., Told Fox News, saying it is “indisputable. at this point that the Chinese Communist Party covered up “the virus.

“So you have it, in addition to what is emerging more and more as a genocide – forced labor, internment,” continued Waltz. “Seeing the American flag and American athletes in Beijing celebrating what is the worst of the worst authoritarian regimes at the moment – I can’t imagine.”

He added: “I get sick just thinking about the Olympics – just 11 months from now – being celebrated in Beijing after all this.”

Waltz also pointed out that more than 80 global international brands make money from “slave labor in western China” and said that “some of them will make money at the Olympic Games”.

“Does social justice apply only to the United States, but not in international relations?” Waltz said.

Waltz told Fox News that he hopes that when the Biden administration “looks at these things entirely”, including the Chinese religious charge and its crackdown on “basic freedom of speech”, that they “agree that we cannot, in good conscience, have the American flag with our athletes celebrating, by all definitions of the book, a brutal dictatorship ”.

“I certainly hope so,” said Waltz. “And if they look at it objectively, I think they will.”

President Biden last week spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time since taking office and outlined his “main concerns” about China’s “aggressive activities and abuses”, according to senior government officials.

And several Biden government officials, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have signaled that China represents one of the greatest threats to the United States’ national security. Trump administration officials have also warned of the threat to China’s national security for the U.S. – with many agreeing that it is a “bipartisan” issue.

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“For me, whether it’s the government or the Democrats in the House – it’s easy to say what to say,” said Waltz. “This is the journey. If you are concerned with basic freedoms – of expression, of the press and of religion – then you will embark.”

Waltz said that “historically, authoritarian regimes have been encouraged by the legitimacy and worldwide attention that comes from hosting the Olympics”, pointing to 1936, when the Summer Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany, under the Nazis, and to 2014, when winter The Olympic Games were held in Sochi, Russia, under the Putin regime.

“If you follow the story with these regimes, they will be encouraged by the legitimacy conferred by the Olympics,” said Waltz.

A coalition of more than 180 human rights groups, some with ties to ethnic minorities who have suffered human rights abuses in China, earlier this month also called for a boycott of the Olympics. The coalition was made up of groups representing Tibetans, Uighurs, Inner Mongols, Hong Kong residents and others.

And Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Earlier this month also tabled a resolution in the Senate, calling on the International Olympic Committee to transfer the 2022 Winter Olympics outside China and transfer them to another country, unless that Beijing “immediately address its notorious and numerous human rights violations.” Scott has been asking the IOC to change the Beijing games for more than a year.

But Waltz added that his resolution is “focused on the CCP”.

“There is no problem with the incredible culture and long history of the Chinese people,” said Waltz. “They are being brutalized by the Chinese government.”

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“We are marching towards the winter games – it’s just around the corner,” continued Waltz. “We are going to beat that drum louder and louder.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.