Should America Boycott The 2022 Beijing Olympics?

As the Tokyo Olympics continue this week, American lawmakers are already weighing the potential for boycotting the 2022 Games in Beijing.

China’s human rights abuses are well-documented. For one, the Chinese government is holding members of the Uyghur ethnic minority in concentration camps where they are reportedly sterilized and “reeducated” with communist doctrine. For another, the Chinese government recently enacted a law which suppresses civil liberties in Hong Kong. Most recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping took an aggressive posture toward the island nation of Taiwan, calling for its “complete unification” under the mainland’s hegemony.

Now, debate over the appropriate response to these abuses, and whether they should impact America’s participation in the 2022 Games has begun.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) — who helped organize the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 — encouraged an “economic and diplomatic boycott” of the Beijing Games, which would allow American athletes to compete while American tourists and officials largely stay home. The move would be best executed with coordination from American corporations and news outlets — especially NBC, which broadcasts the Games.

Meanwhile, a group representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, and residents of Hong Kong is calling for a complete boycott in 2022. They argued that “participating in the Beijing Olympic Games at this time would be tantamount to endorsing China’s genocide against the Uyghur people, and legitimizing the increasingly repressive policies of the totalitarian Chinese regime.”

What are American officials, athletes, and spectators to do?

According to an analysis released by Olivia Enos — a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center — American policy options toward Games hosted by repressive regimes have differed over the past century. 

Though the United States fully participated in the Berlin Olympics in 1936, for instance, it also enacted a complete boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow. Though competing in the Nazis’ Games offered “the impression that the U.S. did not care about the persecution of European Jews,” the boycott of the Soviets’ Games failed to “result in the desired policy outcome — the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan — until 10 years later.”

Therefore, Enos argues that the United States should find middle ground. 

First, the United States and other Western allies should push the International Olympic Committee to “postpone and move” the Beijing Games. According to Enos, “this would be an opportunity to present a strong, unified, global stand against Beijing’s egregious human rights record,” holding the Chinese Communist Party “responsible for its violations without punishing athletes.”

The “backup plan” would be a diplomatic boycott similar to the one mentioned by Romney. Facets of the plan include sending “only government officials to the extent necessary to guarantee the safety of athletes participating in the Olympics” while pressing “for access to political re-education camps in Xinjiang as a precondition to full diplomatic participation,” as well as encouraging athletes to draw attention toward Chinese repression. For instance, the United States delegation could refrain from the traditional flag dip to the host country’s diplomats during the opening ceremony.

So far, hints from the Biden administration about its tactics toward the 2022 Games have varied. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that his agency would “certainly wish to discuss” a boycott with international allies; however, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently told reporters that such talks would not be held.

The Tokyo Olympics — though underway — face a host of challenges already. But it is evident that policymakers must also contend with another complicated Games next year.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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