The remarks came during a Feb. 3 meeting of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan congressional body established in 2000 to report annually on developments concerning human rights and the rule of law in China.
“Now the IOC, aided by corporate sponsors, once again turns a blind eye with the 2022 Winter Olympics just to bolster their bottom line,” she said.
Likewise, CECC Chair Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) referred to the IOC and its corporate sponsors as “feckless” for refusing to speak up because of fear of losing market share in China. CECC Co-chair Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said the companies supporting the IOC would need to find a new way of doing business.
“The paradigm must change,” McGovern said. “These companies are going to need to figure out a way to make money other than reliance on forced labor and abetting crimes against humanity.”
While Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has denied that it’s engaging in systematic human rights abuses, the IOC has consistently declined to take a stance on the regime’s rights abuses. For this reason, as well as the IOC’s alleged contracting of Chinese apparel companies with ties to forced labor, the global sporting body has drawn harsh criticism from U.S. lawmakers.
“The United States and the international community know the truth,” Pelosi said. “The People’s Republic of China is perpetrating a campaign of gross human rights violations, including genocide.”
Merkley made comments echoing the House speaker’s position.
Warning to US Athletes
Pelosi characterized the U.S. confrontation of Beijing’s human rights abuses as a “moral duty,” but warned U.S. athletes present at the Olympics to refrain from activities that could draw the attention of “ruthless” CCP officials.“Don’t for one moment believe anything the Chinese government might tell you about freedom of expression,” she said. “You take a risk [speaking out].”
Merkley said several requests were made to the IOC to move the Games to a different city, but that all were refused.
To this end, the CECC described the regime’s promotion of the Winter Games as a “facade that distracts global attention from egregious human rights abuses in China.”
As such, the Feb. 3 hearing was designed to protest ongoing repression by giving “a platform to voices working on behalf of the abused and repressed in China, including civil society, human rights defenders, the people of Hong Kong, Uyghurs, and Tibetans,” and included several speakers whose relatives had been wrongfully arrested or disappeared by the Chinese communist regime.
“This is Xi Jinping’s genocide,” Smith said. “He should be at the Hague, being held to account for crimes against humanity and genocide.
“Instead, he’ll be at those opening ceremonies and throughout shining in the spotlight while people are being forced into labor, are being tortured, and are being killed.”
The IOC, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, said, “Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC must remain neutral on all global political issues.”
“The Olympic Games are awarded by the IOC Session, which consists of the (up to 115) IOC members, to a National Olympic Committee (NOC) and a host. That does not mean that the IOC takes a position with regard to the political structure, social circumstances or human rights standards in the country concerned,” the statement added.