In 1980, President Carter pulled U.S. athletes out of the USSR Olympics.  I felt bad for the dedicated athletes but understood the reasoning after the Soviet Union failed to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

In 2021, we have a bigger problem in China, as representatives Guy Reschenthaler and Michael Waltz wrote:

Since at least March 2017, China has detained and persecuted approximately 1.8 million Turkic Muslims, including ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz, in "political reeducation" centers. Muslim minorities are held without due process in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and coerced into disavowing their religious beliefs. 

They are subjected to forced labor, deprived of food and other basic needs, and suffer from atrocities like torture and organ harvesting. Women in Xinjiang face even harsher treatment, as the CCP attempts to eliminate minority peoples through forced abortion and sterilization.

China's human rights violations do not end there.

Chinese authorities continue to persecute and repress the Tibetan people for their religion, language and culture.

Last summer in Hong Kong, China's legislature passed an illegal national security law restricting basic political rights and authorizing severe punishments for any Hong Konger accused of these ambiguous crimes.

The world cannot stand by and allow China to continue these egregious human rights violations. 

This is why we have introduced a resolution in Congress urging the IOC to move the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. If the Games are not moved, our resolution call for the United States to lead an international boycott of the 2022 Olympic Games. 

To date, the Australian Parliament debated boycotting the 2022 Games, the United Kingdom's foreign secretary suggested it and members of Parliament called for it. The Washington Post editorial board and dozens of human rights organizations support these efforts. 

It is time we take action.

Biden knows or should know this.  China is violating human rights from Tibet to Hong Kong.

So Biden should put down a marker and put the U.S. on the side of human rights and the freedom-loving people in China.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).

Image: Pierre de Coubertin.