Wednesday, April 7th, 2021
Criticism of human rights
Olympic boycott debate outrags China
Without even mentioning the word boycott, this is exactly what the US wants to discuss with allies. In relation to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing. China is appalled and angry. IOC and DOSB also reject calls for boycotts.
A heated dispute has broken out between China and the United States over calls for a possible boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Beijing Foreign Office spokesman Zhao Lijian sharply criticized the US after the US State Department spokesman said the previous day in Washington that the US wanted to talk to allies about a possible Olympic boycott because of human rights violations in China.
“The politicization of sport runs counter to the Olympic Charter, harms the interests of all athletes and the international Olympic movement,” Zhao Lijian told the press in Beijing. The US Olympic Committee and the rest of the Olympic movement would not participate. China is confident that it can ensure successful and great games with all parties.
The US accuses China of human rights violations, particularly in dealing with the Uyghur and Tibetan minorities and in suppressing the democratic forces in Hong Kong. In February, an alliance of 180 international human rights groups and representatives of minorities in China asked the international community not to participate in the February 2022 Games. “Anything else is seen as support for authoritarian rule and the undisguised disregard for civil and human rights by the Chinese Communist Party,” according to an open letter.
“Games are still some time away”
When asked whether the US was already in talks to consider or plan a joint boycott of the Winter Games, US spokesman Ned Price said at a press conference on Tuesday: “This is something we certainly want to discuss, and it is certainly something where we understand that coordinated action is not only in our interests, but also in the interests of our allies and partners. “
Speaking of general discussions with allied countries on how to deal with human rights violations in China and how to act, especially on the subject of the 2022 Olympics, Price said: “The Games are still some time away. I wouldn’t want to set a timetable, but these discussions are in progress.”
In response to media reports of ongoing talks, a senior State Department official clarified that the US was not currently in such talks. “Our position on Olympia 2022 has not changed. We have had no discussions and have no discussions about any joint boycott with allies and partners,” said the official.
“A lie of the century”
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the German President Thomas Bach had recently rejected all boycott demands. In March, Bach said that a boycott was the “wrong answer to such questions”. The President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), Alfons Hörmann, had also categorically ruled out a boycott in February. Seven US Republican senators called for Beijing to withdraw the Games in February. They referred to the persecution of Uyghurs and Tibetans as well as China’s threats against Taiwan. Senator Rick Scott introduced a resolution in the US Senate.
China’s Foreign Office spokesman also emphasized that the US itself had not said anything to say that it wanted to stay away from the games. He rejected the allegations of “so-called genocide” among the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang as “nothing more than a lie of the century”.
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