Global leaders and activists have urged countries to boycott the Beijing Winter Games, which are a year away, over human rights abuses.
According to a report by The Washington Post, though the International Olympic Committee has largely sidestepped the matter, the human rights groups and some lawmakers are arguing that hosting the Winter Olympics -- a quadrennial spectacle that promotes itself as a symbol of global harmony -- in Beijing provides an undeserved platform to a country accused of genocide by the US government for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, and of cracking down on democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
A foreign diplomat has been quoted as saying that while the new US administration is yet to set a course of action with regard to Olympics, mid-level diplomats have begun discussion with important Western allies on "how to handle the Games given the genocide declaration".
"If you're going to accuse a government of genocide, you can't then have an Olympics in that country as if it's a normal place," said Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who was assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour in the Obama administration.
Last month, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and half a dozen Republican colleagues introduced a resolution urging the IOC to move the Winter Games out of China, The Washington Post reported.
Earlier, US State Secretary Antony Blinken had a telephonic conversation with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi during which he conveyed that Washington will continue to stand up for human rights and democratic values, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and will hold Beijing accountable for its abuses of the international system.
"In my call with my counterpart in Beijing, Yang Jiechi, I made clear the US will defend our national interests, stand up for our democratic values, and hold Beijing accountable for its abuses of the international system," Blinken tweeted.
China has been rebuked globally for cracking down on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.
Beijing, on the other hand, has vehemently denied that it is engaged in human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang while reports from journalists, NGOs and former detainees have surfaced, highlighting the Chinese Communist Party's brutal crackdown on the ethnic community, according to a report.
Meanwhile, China imposed the draconian National Security Law imposed by China last year.
The law criminalises secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces and carries with it strict prison terms. It came into effect from July 1.
Since then, a number of former pro-democracy lawmakers have been arrested.
( With inputs from ANI )
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