Lawmakers press US corporate sponsors of Beijing Winter Olympics, saying diplomatic boycott on Games is not enough

Name: Australia, Britain, Canada join US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights
Uploaded: 2021-12-09T18:01:35.000Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: Australia, Britain, Canada join US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights

Growing anger in Washington towards giant American corporations that have paid billions to sponsor the Games and stayed silent on China’s human rights record

‘They preach social justice, and that helps their balance sheet in the US, and ignoring human rights helps their balance sheet in China,’ said one politician

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Protesters calling for a boycott of the Beijing Games demonstrate outside the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters in Switzerland. Photo: Reuters

Jacob Fromerin Washington

Published: 2:01am, 10 Dec 2021Updated: 6:59am, 10 Dec 2021

When the White House announced this week that it would not send any officials to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing, the response from Congress was swift – rare bipartisan praise, followed by another demand: US corporate sponsors of the Games should do the same.

“We continue to argue that a diplomatic boycott is not enough,” said Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, both Democrats and co-chairs of a congressional panel that focuses on China policy.

“At the very least, the American corporate sponsors of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should also refuse to send senior executives to the Games in Beijing.”

It was the latest sign of growing anger in Washington towards giant US corporations with business in China that have stayed silent on the country’s human rights record – now with a focus on the companies that have paid billions of dollars to sponsor the Winter Games, which begin in February in Beijing.

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Australia, Britain, Canada join US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights

Lawmakers have expressed concern that even as US President Joe Biden has taken the rare step of ordering a diplomatic boycott of the Games, the US corporations sponsoring them may be undermining Washington’s ability to send a clear message to Beijing.