Washington (December 6, 2021) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chair of the Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, released the following statement after the Biden administration today announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing, China.
“I commend the Biden administration’s decision to implement a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, as I have called for on a bipartisan basis with my Senate colleagues,” said Senator Markey. “We should not give cover to the Government of China to whitewash their atrocities and human rights abuses. We must seek areas of cooperation where possible with China, particularly on existential threats such as climate change and nuclear weapons, but we must also speak up in the face of the blatant abuses being committed every day against Uyghurs in China, against Hong Kong, Tibet, and many, many others whose freedom and dignity is under assault by the Chinese government. Through a diplomatic boycott, we can both cheer the U.S. Olympic Team to gold while staying true to our values of liberty and human rights.”
In March 2020, Senator Markey and Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China and rebid it to a country unless Beijing addresses its violation of human rights. This October, Senator Markey co-sponsored an amendment to the annual defense budget to impose a diplomatic boycott of China's Winter Olympics.
