US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given a call for a "diplomatic boycott" of the 2022 Winter Olympics, set to be held in Beijing, as a mark of protest over the ongoing human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims of China's Xinjiang province.
At a joint hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Pelosi urged heads of states and global leaders to boycott Beijing’s 2022 Olympic as a protest against the alleged ‘genocide’ of Uyghurs in Northwest China.
Questioning the morality of the world leaders who were planning to attend the Olympics, Pelosi said that anyone who wishes to attend would lose ‘moral authority'.
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"Sadly we are here because China continues to crush all political dissent," the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives said, adding that the United States has an obligation to "speak out against human rights violations in China."
"Let's have a diplomatic boycott if, in fact, this Olympics takes place," Pelosi said. "I don't know if it's possible because we have not succeeded in the past."
But, she added, "let's not honour the Chinese government by having heads of state go to China.”
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“For heads of state to go to China in light of a genocide that is ongoing while you're sitting there in your seats really begs the question, 'What moral authority do you have to speak about human rights anywhere in the world?'" Pelosi said.
The joint hearing also heard from activists who condemned China's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority and its political crackdown in Hong Kong.
Earlier in 2018, an independent arm of the United Nations said it had received credible reports that at least 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims residing in China’s Xinjiang province had been held in camps. However, when questioned, Beijing described them as vocational centres targeted at eliminating extremism.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu hit back at Nancy Pelosi while talking to Reuters and said that the US attempts to interfere in China's domestic affairs over the Olympics were doomed to fail.
"I wonder what makes some U.S. politicians think they actually have the so-called 'moral authority'? On human rights issues, they are in no position, either historically or currently, to make wanton groundless criticism against China," Liu said.
