The State Department has finally recognized that China is committing genocide in Xinjiang. While it isn’t clear what the Biden administration is prepared to do in response, there is an easy first step to take: Boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and encourage other countries to do the same.
In one of his final acts as secretary of state, Mike Pompeo issued a determination that the Chinese Communist Party “has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.” President Biden said as much during the campaign. His pick to succeed Pompeo, Antony Blinken, backed Pompeo’s determination.
Calling a genocide a genocide is, quite literally, the least that the United States can do. The Trump administration had repeatedly imposed sanctions. But the U.S. is still poised to send hundreds of athletes to Beijing for the 2022 Olympic Games, which would undercut America’s criticism of the Chinese government.
The U.S. should not be sending its athletes to participate in any event taking place in a country that is committing genocide. This statement should not be controversial. As tough as it may be for the athletes to hear, there is no excuse for the U.S. to indulge China or its craven allies at the International Olympic Committee.
This is Biden’s chance to prove that he at least has some backbone when it comes to China and an opportunity for him to back up all his talk about working with our allies. The United Kingdom has floated the idea of a boycott. China has continually antagonized Australia and Canada. Biden should begin getting these nations on board for a boycott before turning his attention to Germany and the other European countries that are more willing to engage with China despite its atrocities.
No one is mistaking Biden for someone who is going to be tough on China. We already know that he isn’t going to hold the CCP accountable for causing the coronavirus pandemic. But this is such an obvious move to make that even he has no reason to pass it up.
There is no moral justification for the U.S. to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics. If Biden fails to take this stand, it will be remembered as an even bigger moral failure than America’s participation in the 1936 “Nazi Games” in Berlin. Neither the U.S. nor any country that values human rights should participate in China’s “Genocide Games.”
