White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki answers questions from reporters during a news conference Feb. 12, 2021.
The White House has not yet made a final decision on whether the United States will participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, President Joe Biden‘s spokeswoman said Thursday (Feb. 25). Some Republicans have been calling for a boycott of it recently.
Republicans calling for a boycott of the games or moving them out of Beijing cited an allegation made by former President Donald Trump against the Chinese Communist government during his presidency that it was committing genocide against Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, Reuters reported.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to a reporter’s question about U.S. participation in the Beijing Olympics by saying, “The decision on that is not final, but of course we will seek guidance from the U.S. Olympic Committee.”
On Feb. 3, Psaki hinted that the United States had no plans to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics. At the Time, she said in response, “We are not currently talking about changing our attitude or plans as it relates to the Beijing Olympics.”
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said they had no comment on Psaki’s latest remarks, but referred to a statement it issued on Feb. 3 opposing the boycott.
An earlier statement from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said, “We believe a more effective course of action would be for world governments to engage directly with China (the Chinese Communist Party) on human rights and geopolitical issues.”
Human rights groups have urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to pull the Winter Olympics out of China and host them instead, citing the Communist Party’s treatment of Uighur Muslims and other human rights concerns. Beijing, for its part, has continued to deny human rights abuses.
The last time the U.S. boycotted the Olympics was in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter refused to send U.S. athletes to the Moscow Games. At the time, Cold War tensions were high around the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, considered a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, became the latest Republican political figure to call for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday. “America should not glorify a country that is committing genocide against its own people and threatening the world,” Haley wrote on Twitter.
This week, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican John Katko, sent a letter to Biden asking him to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, after several members of Congress introduced resolutions calling for Beijing’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics to be revoked.
ABC News reported that John Katko wrote in his letter, “The Communist Party of China (CCP) is doing things that run counter to the values of the United States and its allies.”
“Participation in the Olympics in a country that is openly committing genocide not only undermines shared values (of the United States and allies), but casts a shadow on the hearts of all those who seek freedom and justice.” He wrote.
Last Monday, Feb. 15, Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz introduced a resolution urging that the United States should boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, “I hope this is the first step for the U.S. government to join the 180 human rights organizations calling for a boycott of the (Beijing) Winter Olympics and to put the United States at the forefront of human rights advocates around the world. front.” Congressman Walz said.
On February 2, Senator Rick Scott (R-UT) and six other Republican senators introduced a resolution urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China because of the Communist Party’s poor human rights record.
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