On the eve of the first anniversary of the Beijing Winter Olympics, more than 180 human rights organizations from around the world have signed an open letter calling on governments to boycott the event because the human rights situation in China has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Chinese official media recently issued an article saying that if any country boycotts the Beijing Winter Olympics, the authorities will take retaliatory action.
Last Thursday marked the first anniversary of the countdown to the Beijing Winter Olympics. Just a few days before and after that, the international community once again focused on a new wave of boycott of the Winter Olympics.
British and U.S. lawmakers call for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Last Tuesday, U.S. Republican Senator Rick Scott joined six other senators in introducing a resolution urging the International Olympic Committee to cancel Beijing’s right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics unless Beijing authorities immediately improve on their egregious human rights violations. In a statement, Scott said, “Communist China is committing genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang, restricting the human rights of Hong Kong people, and continuing to threaten Taiwan. China should not be allowed to host the 2022 Winter Olympics while opening concentration camps, violating human rights and systematically suppressing Hong Kong people.”
Days later, a number of key British political figures, including UK Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Chris Bryant, a Labour MP on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, also called on their athletes to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics and say “no” to China’s human rights record.
The Global Times, an official Chinese media outlet, recently published an opinion piece saying that this is just a few Western politicians “trying to make their presence felt. If any country eventually takes action to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics, China will definitely “retaliate violently.
Teng Biao, a U.S.-based human rights lawyer, said that the human rights situation in China has not improved since Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics, but has instead deteriorated.
“If we had a reason to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we have ten or a hundred times more reasons to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics this Time, because what the Chinese government did in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and other places actually constitutes a crime against humanity.”
Hundreds of Human Rights Organizations Join Call for Boycott
Teng Biao was one of the co-signers on behalf of the Free Tibet Student Movement, Humane China, the Uyghur Human Rights Project, and more than one hundred and eighty other global human rights movement organizations that issued a joint open letter last Wednesday calling on governments to commit to a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics so as not to contribute to the Chinese government’s extremely egregious human rights abuses and crackdown on dissent. He also recently published an opinion piece in the Washington Post saying that the Beijing Winter Olympics would be another genocide-tainted Olympics, referring to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which were widely criticized for being seen as Hitler’s “propaganda treasure.
The open letter points out that the human rights situation in Tibet has deteriorated dramatically in recent years, with thousands of political prisoners under threat of torture and even death; that in Xinjiang, between 1.8 million and 3 million Muslims are being held in “re-Education camps,” subjected to political brainwashing and inhumane treatment; and that in Hong Kong, thousands of human rights activists and vocal young people are being detained for simply supporting the democracy movement. In Hong Kong, thousands of human rights activists and vocal young people have been rounded up simply for supporting the democracy movement; in Inner Mongolia, the government has intensified its crackdown on cultural differences and local students have been denied the right to speak Mongolian. The open letter also says that China’s geopolitical bullying of Taiwan and its expansion in the South China Sea and along the India-China border likewise pose a threat to regional and global security. As a result, the bodies called on governments to boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics or be seen as endorsing the Communist Party’s dictatorship and its blatant disregard for human rights.
Another co-signer of the open letter, John Jones, a director of Free Tibet, said a boycott of the Winter Olympics would be a direct challenge to China’s international standing.
“I think if people don’t want to participate in this Olympics, then it sends a signal to the authorities in Beijing that the world doesn’t want to work with them, and that can affect the reputation of the event.”
No U.S. boycott plans yet
However, U.S. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a press conference last Wednesday that the United States has no current discussions related to changing its plans when it comes to the Winter Olympics in Beijing. When asked whether the Biden administration supports shifting the venue for the Winter Olympics, the White House asked the media to seek comment from the U.S. Olympic Committee. The sports organization said in a statement that they oppose a boycott of the Games because it would not only negatively impact athletes but also does not effectively address global issues, and that governments should communicate directly with China on human rights and political issues.
At present, no country has yet explicitly stated that it will boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Human rights lawyer Teng Biao admits that despite the huge resistance to the boycott campaign, they still have the obligation to speak out on the issue.
“Judging from the consistent attitude of Western governments, I can hardly expect anything from the boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but I think it is still very necessary to make this voice heard, because we must let more people hear about the human rights disaster happening throughout China.”
In protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States had banned its athletes from participating in the Olympics held in the Soviet Union in 1980. In retaliation, the Soviet Union boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics four years later.
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