Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered a harsh rebuke of China over its alleged treatment of Uyghurs and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he said the administration is not ready to make a decision on a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics set to be held in Beijing.
On Sunday, Blinken called talks of boycotting the Olympics, which are still more than a year away, “premature,” during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.
“We’re not there yet. This is a year or so before the Olympics. We’re not focused on a boycott. What we are focused on is talking, consulting closely with our allies and partners, listening to them, listening to concerns. That’s premature,” Blinken said.
Despite hesitation on the boycott decision, the secretary accused Beijing of staging a “genocide” against Uyghurs, which he asserted during his confirmation hearings in January.
“That’s the right description,” Blinken said Sunday, highlighting the importance of U.S. companies not providing China with products that can be used to suppress the Uyghur population and other religious minorities. China denies all charges of human rights abuses.
Blinken also said he believes China hid information in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, calling for more transparency over information sharing and strengthening the World Health Organization.
The White House reiterated Blinken’s sentiment on the 2022 Beijing Olympics, saying they have yet to make a final decision and want to receive guidance from the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Some GOP lawmakers have been vocal about their support to pull the games from Beijing over its alleged human rights abuses.
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In February, Florida Sen. Rick Scott introduced a resolution calling to move the Olympics elsewhere unless China commits to addressing the accusations against them. Sens. Mike Braun, Todd Young, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Jim Inhofe, and Marsha Blackburn sponsored the resolution.
