Bipartisan Group of House Lawmakers Push for Boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics Over Uyghur Genocide

X Facebook Email Flipboard Pinterest Print Reddit

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:35 pm

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is pushing for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held in Beijing, over China’s systematic genocide against the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.

“No funds appropriated pursuant to any appropriations Acts or otherwise appropriated may be expended to enable any United States officer or official to attend the 2022 Olympic Games in the People’s Republic of China,” reads a proposed amendment to be included in the annual State Department funding bill, which is currently under examination by the House Appropriations Committee.

The amendment was proposed by Representative Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and co-sponsored by Representative Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.).

If the amendment is approved, it would bar the State Department from allocating any funds that would be used to transport United States officers or officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“When this administration and the last administration have both said officially and unofficially that there’s an ongoing genocide (in China), I can’t imagine that we would send a delegation at all,” Waltz said, noting that both the Trump and Biden administrations have acknowledged that there is an ongoing genocide in China.

Malinowski has spoken out against China regarding this matter before.

“There’s no such thing as non-political games—dictatorships like China host the Olympics to validate their standing as normal and respected countries even as they continue to commit crimes against their people,” Malinowski said in a statement in June. “Today’s coordinated action by legislators in multiple democracies is a clear signal to the International Olympic Committee that we’re fed up with its silence about China’s ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs.”

The Senate last month approved a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming winter games as part of a bill––The United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021––that passed with bipartisan support.