Cotton: The IOC Is Acting as the CCP's 'Frontman' and We Can't Ensure Safety of Olympic Competitors in China

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) stated that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is acting as the Chinese Communist Party’s “frontman” in the case of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai and argued that the U.S. should totally boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics because we can’t guarantee the safety of American competitors from “ubiquitous electronic surveillance, to DNA harvesting, or simply hostage-taking.”

Cotton said, [relevant remarks begin around 2:30] “The IOC is acting as nothing but a frontman for the Chinese Communist Party. Last week, I called for a complete and total boycott of these games, partly because the Biden administration cannot assure the safety of our athletes and their coaches and staff from ubiquitous electronic surveillance, to DNA harvesting, or simply hostage-taking. If the Chinese Communist Party will take its own athletes and disappear them and then march them out in hostage videos like this, what will they do to our athletes? This is a regime that is committing genocide against its own people. We should not be doing anything to celebrate or honor China with these [Olympic] games. We can rebid them. There [are] probably half a dozen European nations that could host them in February if we move now.”

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