US Senator demands 2022 Winter Olympics be removed from China to another nation over 'genocide'
Washington: Republican Sen. Rick Scott has asked sponsors of Olympics to demand that 2022 Winter Games be move from Beijing due to human rights abuses and alleged genocide against Uyghur Muslims and ethnic minorities in China, media reports said.
Scott, of Florida, wrote a letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News, to International Olympics Committee sponsors, including Airbnb, Alibaba Group, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, DOW, General Electric, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Toyota and Visa, reports Fox News.
As a sponsor of the IOC, you are uniquely positioned to join in this fight and demand the IOC stand for human rights and remove the games from Communist China, or lose your sponsorship and support," Scott wrote to the companies Tuesday as quoted by the news channel.
A coalition of 150 human rights campaigners also issued an open letter to sponsors asking them to drop their support for the 2022 games, reports Fox News.
"I am sure you agree the crimes committed by General Secretary Xi are horrific. We cannot give a nation that is so overtly abusing human rights a platform to whitewash its crimes by hosting the Olympic Games," Scott wrote. "Therefore, I am asking you to stand for human rights and freedom, and use your considerable leverage as a sponsor of the 2022 Olympic Games to publicly urge the IOC to move the games to a nation that values human dignity and freedom."
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Tuesday, Scott said he believed the sponsors would join in the calls to move the Olympic Games out of Beijing.
He said he feels no body will like to be affiliated with a country's government that commits genocide of own men.
"I don’t think anybody should want to be affiliated with a government that commits genocide against its own people," Scott told Fox News, calling the abuses toward Uyghurs "disgusting."
"I am hopeful that the sponsors will see it is not in their best interest to be affiliated with a despicable government like this," he said.
Scott said if the companies work with the Chinese Communist Party, "they are turning a blind eye to genocide."
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