White House press secretary Jen Psaki left open the possibility of a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Thursday, as pressure on Congress grows to punish China for oppressing Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang region.
“There was no final decision on this,” said Psaki on Thursday when asked about the potential boycott during a news conference. “And, of course, we would seek guidance from the United States Olympic Committee.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee said he believed boycotts were an ineffective way to address global issues.
“We believe that the most effective course of action is for the governments of the world and China to engage directly on human rights and geopolitical issues,” the spokesman told Fox News.
AMB. NIKKI HALEY: BIDEN SHOULD BOYCOTT IN CHINA’S WINTER OLYMPICS NEXT YEAR
Congressman John Katko, RN.Y., wrote a letter to President Joe Biden this week, urging him to “work with our partners and allies to lead the free nations of the planet in a unified movement to carry out this honorable competition between nations. in a country that really lives up to the values of the Olympic Charter. “
“The actions taken by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are antithetical to the values of both the United States and its allies around the world,” wrote Katko, the main Republican on the Internal Security Committee. “Participating in an Olympics held in a country that is openly committing genocide not only weakens these shared values, but casts a shadow on the promise for all those who seek free and fair societies.”
A group of Republican senators tabled a resolution earlier this month calling on the International Olympic Committee to withdraw the 2022 Winter Olympics from China.
Protesters hold Tibetan flags during a protest against the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics by activists from the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, in front of the International Olympic Committee, IOC, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 A coalition of 180 human rights groups are calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, linked to allegations of human rights abuses in China. Games are due to start on February 4, 2022. (Jean-Christophe Bott / Keystone via AP)
BIDEN’S COMMENTS ON CHINA’S UIGHURS IS ‘BIGOTRY MASQUERADING AS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY’, ‘HR MCMASTER SAYS
On the last full day of the Trump administration, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared China’s treatment of Uighur Muslims a “genocide”.
Pomepo accused the Chinese Communist Party of “forced sterilization, torture of a large number of arbitrarily detainees, forced labor and the imposition of draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and freedom of movement”.
The Biden government is reviewing this determination, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken seems to agree with it, saying on his first day at work last month that “the judgment remains that the genocide was committed against Uighurs and that has not changed. “.
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President Biden was criticized by some lawmakers and analysts last week when he responded to a question by CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the oppression of Uighur Muslims, saying “there are different rules that each country and they, their leaders, must follow” .
The president also said that “there will be repercussions for China” and that the US “will reaffirm our role as spokespersons for human rights at the UN”