The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee says it will not boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.
Susanne Lyons, president of the committee, said at a news conference Wednesday (March 10) that while support for a boycott of the Beijing Games continues, it would be a disservice to the farriers who have been training for the event.
Lyons said, “While we never want to downplay the human rights issues that are happening in China, we also will not support athletes boycotting this event.”
Lyons is referring here to the imprisonment of Muslims in Xinjiang, China. The United States believes that China is committing genocide by persecuting Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
The United States has boycotted the Olympics only once in modern history, and that was the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The reason for the boycott was the invasion of Afghanistan by the then-Soviet Union.
Lyons said, “We don’t think that boycott is working.” A boycott, she said, “would only hurt the athletes who have devoted their lives to training to represent their country in that competition.”
The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled for July this year, and the 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 4 next year.
What has stirred international outrage is what has happened to the Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province, the Chinese Communist Party‘s stance on Taiwan and its harsh crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.
U.S. Rep. John Katko (D-CA) wrote a letter to President Joe Biden last month expressing support for a boycott of the Olympics.
In the letter, Katko said, “Traveling to the Olympics in a country that is openly committing genocide not only hurts our shared values, but it also hurts our commitment to those who seek freedom and justice in our society.”
A group of U.S. senators also filed a motion last month seeking to change the host country for the Winter Olympics. Lyons said her agency is in communication with Congress and the White House on the matter.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently urged President Joe Biden to order a boycott of the Olympics, saying China’s “abhorrent” behavior makes it unworthy of hosting the games.
China’s Foreign Ministry said last week that it opposes the politicization of sports and the use of human rights issues to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
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