Nearly 200 people from all walks of Life have joined a global coalition in solidarity with democracy in Hong Kong, calling for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. One of the initiators of the campaign, Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan, said that the statement has been sent to the U.S. State Department, the House of Representatives and the White House. A second list of signatures is currently being collected.
On March 4 of this year, nearly 200 people from around the world launched a campaign calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Wang Dan, one of the initiators of this co-signing and a Chinese pro-democracy activist, told reporters on the same day, “I think one of the simple reasons for proposing a boycott of the Olympics is that the Olympics have the basic spirit of the Olympics and it is not just a sporting event.”
Wang Dan said that on March 4, after learning that all 47 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists accused of violating the National Security Law had been taken into custody by the authorities, he and many other supporters of Hong Kong’s protests were outraged and had a discussion about it. During the discussion, they also talked about the various human rights persecutions by the Chinese Communist Party, especially the persecution of Uighurs. In order to denounce these actions by the Chinese authorities, they decided to “echo the call of the international community of human rights groups” by issuing a joint statement calling for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The statement was drafted by four pro-democracy activists: Wang Dan, Su Xiaokang, Wang Juntao, and Hu Ping. Between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EST on March 4, a total of 188 people from all walks of life living in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan signed the statement. The statement noted that the Chinese Communist regime’s tyranny in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and China, and its continued threat to Taiwan‘s free and democratic institutions, “has taken on the character of a fascist regime and is unworthy to host an international sporting event of such magnitude as the Olympic Games. The statement therefore called on “all governments to boycott the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games until the Chinese Communist regime has effectively improved the human rights situation and ceased all of the above-mentioned persecution of human rights.
Some of the participants told reporters that they joined the campaign to express their solidarity with the Hong Kong protests. Guo Xiangwei, who lives in San Francisco, said that as one of the founders of the San Francisco United for Hong Kong, he chose to participate in the campaign in the face of the large number of arrests of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong after the passage of the “National Security Law. He said, “I have to speak out in support of the just cause of the Hong Kong people and to cry out for them.”
Jiang Tao, one of the founders of the Los Angeles-based pro-democracy group, the Association for the Study of Constitutionalism for the Departed, said his reason for joining the campaign was to express his support for the Hong Kong protesters and to awaken the civic consciousness of the mainland people through such activities: “The mainland needs a process of civic consciousness awakening, and I think we should always participate in it. think we should always participate in it and express our thoughts.”
Some of the participants in the co-signing also believe that the actions of the Chinese authorities are contrary to the spirit of the Olympics. Hu Jinwei, a pro-democracy activist who now lives in San Francisco, said, “Like the [Chinese] premier said, there are 600 million people earning 1,000 RMB a month. And then they say that they are already helping the Chinese people to get out of poverty. So this is a shameless regime full of lies, and we should all work together to resist it, it’s totally inconsistent with the spirit of free competition that we want.”
Hu Jinwei’s views were echoed by another co-signer, Mr. Wu, who now lives in the western United States. Mr. Wu said that the Chinese authorities are pursuing a harsh policy of political and cultural persecution against the various ethnic groups under their rule, which runs counter to the spirit of the Olympics and is not qualified to host the Winter Olympics. He also called for, “The Winter Olympics should not be held in China and the IOC must not repeat the mistake of painting the Nazi regime in 1936.”
According to Wang Dan, the cosponsored statement was translated into English and sent to relevant officials at the U.S. State Department, the House of Representatives and the White House on March 5. A second list of co-signers is currently being solicited. As of 12:00 noon EST on March 5, 31 people have signed the second cohort.
Ren Songlin, a participant in the second batch of co-signatures and a commentator now living in San Francisco, said that as the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of people in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, and the mainland and threats to Taiwan continue to escalate, “it is Time for people around the world to recognize the nature of the Chinese Communist Party and to awaken people around the world to the Chinese Communist Party.”
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