On Friday, the olympics” target=”_blank”>Olympic torch<. It will be a spectacular opening ceremony, with thousands of participants filling the Bird’s Nest.
Its choreography will be innovative, its artistry unprecedented. Its message will be moving, socially conscious and environmentally aware.
And not a single joe-biden” target=”_blank”>American government official<
We are sending our regrets to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), refusing to join Games hosted in their capital city.
Why?
A million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are locked away in gulags; they are raped, tortured with electric batons, sterilized, and forced into abortions.
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Taiwan’s sovereignty is continually threatened.
Hong Kong’s democracy strangled.
There, and across the CCP’s domain, dissidents, whistleblowers and protesters have been apprehended, imprisoned without trial, persecuted, and reeducated. Free speech is stifled, expression censored and religious freedom denied.
The Olympic Games in Beijing, spit and polished, even carbon-neutral, may present the face of a humane and caring world power, but we are not fooled.
We see through the charade: a slave state hosting the Olympians, its participants wearing uniforms made by Uyghurs tortured and toiling in labor camps.
I want America’s Olympians to bring back every single gold medal. But I also want to them to know what is waiting for them in China.
Over the last several days, I’ve gone more in-depth on the offenses perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party on social media under the hashtag #BeijingBehavingBadly. These and other atrocities are among the reasons I’ve been so hard on China during my time in the Senate.
Leaders in Washington have a moral imperative to call out their bad behavior and legislate against their growing influence.
My bipartisan legislation, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, is the boldest bill the Senate has ever passed to ensure the United States out-innovates and out-competes the Chinese Communist Party. With any luck, it will become law this year, and we’ll be on the path to winning the 21st century, just as we did the 20th.
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But before any of that happens, our athletes will take center stage in Beijing.
They will be on the ice and in the snow, on the slopes and in the arena, just as they should be. They have worked their entire lives for this moment.
I want America’s Olympians to bring back every single gold medal. But I also want to them to know what is waiting for them in China.
They will be spied on. The China-made apps, such as MY2022 Olympics App, they will be required to download on their phones can censor certain words, record audio and track sensitive data about our athletes that is then stored on servers within China.
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They will be presented a scrubbed version of CCP reality. Chinese authorities are censoring the internet to make it “more healthy, happy, and peaceful.” They’ve done the same to the air, halting polluting activities in hopes the smog will dissipate in time.
When the Games are over, both the internet and the air will be restored to the CCP default settings.
And athletes may be at risk if they speak out. Just asked Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai. Though you can’t ask her because, worryingly, she has been made to disappear since accusing government officials of sexual assault last year.
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The Olympics have long been an opportunity for Americans to prove their mettle to dictators.
Jesse Owens won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin while Hitler looked on, humiliated, his delusion of Aryan superiority burst.
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In 1980, the United States hockey team upset the Soviets in Lake Placid.
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Now in 2022, another act in a global power competition will take place at the Olympics.
America and the free west against the communist Chinese government. It’s part of the contest that will define this century.
And we will win.
