Nikki Haley Calls on Biden to Boycott China’s 2022 Winter Olympics, Compares China to Nazi Germany

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican convention in Washington, on Aug. 24, 2020. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has joined a growing number of people calling for the United States to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.

In a Fox News op-ed on Feb. 25, the Republican drew references to China and Nazi Germany, stating that China is “more obviously dangerous today than Nazi Germany was in 1936.”

“If the United States had known what Nazi Germany would become, would we have participated in the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics?” Haley wrote. “This is not a historical head-scratcher. The answer bears directly on next year’s Winter Olympics in Communist China.”

A growing number of Republican politicians are calling for President Joe Biden to boycott next year’s games, or for the International Olympic Committee to move them out of Beijing.

On Thursday, Reps. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), and Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.), the ranking Republican for the House Committee on Homeland Security, introduced a resolution calling on the United States to lead the international boycott on the games, which are set to open on Feb. 4, 2022.

They cite numerous reports of human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the country, including the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in the northwest region of Xinjiang, which the Trump administration designated a genocide.

In Thursday’s op-ed, Haley said China’s direction “is already clear” and noted that it could soon become a modern-day Nazi Germany.

“Long ago, it trampled the people of Tibet. Recently, it wiped out Hong Kong’s freedom. It makes near-daily threats against democratic Taiwan. Its systematic and determined cover-up of the origins of COVID-19 led to the worst public health crisis in a century,” she said.

“Most of all, we know the Chinese government is guilty of genocide. The United States has officially recognized that Beijing is brutally oppressing the Uyghur population in its western province of Xinjiang.”

“Given Communist China’s direction, it could soon become what Nazi Germany was in the 1940s. It is not a country the United States should glorify through participation in the Winter Olympics,” Haley added.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is also calling for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics Games in China, saying on Twitter Thursday that he has asked for a meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss the issue further.

U.S. Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, speaks to the media before the weekly Senate Republican lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 10, 2020. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

“Today, I asked @POTUS to meet with me to discuss Communist China’s horrific human rights abuses & my call to move the 2022 @Olympics out of Beijing. The U.S. must stand as a champion for human rights & hold Communist China accountable for its crimes,” Scott wrote.

In his letter to Biden (pdf), Scott wrote that “Under no circumstance should the global community give Communist China an international platform to whitewash its crimes, which is what will happen if they are allowed to host the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.”

However, Scott said he wanted to make very clear that the United States cannot simply boycott the games, as this would hurt athletes who have spent their lives training for the event.

“This is about human rights, which we all have a responsibility to address,” he added.