Sen. Ted Cruz said he believes the United States should still partake in the 2022 Winter Olympic games even if the event is held in China as other Republicans call for a boycott.
In an op-ed for Fox News published on Monday, Cruz wrote that depriving athletes the opportunity to participate in the XXIV Olympic Winter Games, which the International Olympic Committee currently plans to hold in Beijing, due to geopolitical tensions would be “unconscionable.”
“The worst thing we can do to stand up to China is to keep our athletes home. As anyone who has ever faced down a bully knows, when you decide to hide and not to fight, the bully wins,” he wrote. “Our athletes should go to Beijing next year proudly, bring home medal after medal, and show the world what it means to compete on behalf of a free society. We shouldn’t give China an easy way to run up its medal count by preventing Americans from going to the Olympics.”
MIKE POMPEO URGES BIDEN TO BOYCOTT 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS IF NOT MOVED FROM CHINA
The Texas Republican, who urged the IOC to “comes to its senses” and move the games to a nation not run by “human rights-abusing, free speech-repressing, trade-and-currency manipulating set of totalitarians,” cited President Jimmy Carter’s boycott of the 1980 Olympics held in the Soviet Union as evidence that boycotts are ineffectual policies.
“We have tried this boycott business before, and it utterly failed,” Cruz wrote. “President Jimmy Carter threatened an Olympic boycott against the Soviet Union in 1980. … The Carter administration [ultimately] instituted a boycott, the Soviet Union didn’t blink, and almost 500 American athletes had their Olympic dreams crushed. The Carter boycott was terrible policy, and it hurt the athletes and no one else.”
Cruz’s view marks a sharp departure from others in his party, who have called for a boycott if the IOC keeps the sporting event in Beijing. Last month, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged a boycott because U.S. participation would “reward Chinese propaganda and [give] the Chinese an opportunity to tell the world that this model, this model of governance, this model of seeking hegemony around the world, is the right one.”
Pompeo said that allowing China to host the Olympics would repeat the mistake of allowing Berlin to host the 1936 summer contest at the height of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s power.
“If that means boycotting, if that means nations don’t show up, I regret that for the athletes, but so be it,” he said.
Pompeo’s support for a boycott was echoed by GOP members of Congress, including Rep. Michael Waltz, a Republican from Florida. Waltz cited Carter’s 1980 boycott as evidence that withholding the U.S. athletic delegation would send a message to China in an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner in February.
“Let’s be clear, this is an act of last resort, but the IOC is unfortunately demonstrating that it has been corrupted by Communist Party money like many other international organizations,” Waltz wrote. “I hope this serves as a first step for the government to join the 180 human rights groups calling for a boycott and to keep the U.S. at the forefront of advocating for human rights around the world.”
Reps. Guy Reschenthaler and John Katko also joined calls for a boycott, introducing in a Feb. 24 statement, released jointly with Walz a resolution urging a boycott if the 2022 Olympics are not moved.
“Freedom-loving countries around the world must join together to condemn China’s behavior and show the CCP that the United States and the international community will not idly stand by while they commit atrocities against the Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, and other Chinese dissidents,” Reschenthaler said.
Last month, the Biden administration signaled uncertainty about whether it would dispatch an athletic delegation to the games.
“There hasn’t been a final decision made on that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on the issue. “And, of course, we would look for guidance from the U.S. Olympic Committee.”
In a Feb. 4 press release, the IOC confirmed plans for China to host the 2022 games, marking “one year to go until the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.”
“Every time that I have visited China, I am so impressed by the enthusiasm and support for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “This is why we can say already now with great confidence: China is ready. [It’s] ready to welcome the world’s best winter sports athletes for unforgettable Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. We all are looking forward to this global celebration of sport.”
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Beijing is scheduled to host the XXIV Olympic Winter Games from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20, 2022. After the 2020 Summer Olympic games were postponed due to the coronavirus, the event was rescheduled, and the games will be held in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8 this summer.
