President Joe Biden (D) Florida lawmakers are adding pressure for the United States to fully boycott the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics. The bipartisan effort comes after President Biden called for a diplomatic boycott. The Communist Party of China has faced mounting criticism over human rights abuses, and it criticized President Biden’s call as being “pure grandstanding” and “political manipulation.” Still, Democrats and Republicans are hoping that the United States does not join in the Olympics.
In response to President Joe Biden authorizing a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic games, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that “we cannot conduct ourselves with business as usual, that we are not in a state where business as usual as appropriate at a time where there are human rights abuses that we have been outspoken about that we have taken, taken actions on, and we feel this sends a clear message.”
In the State of Florida, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has vocally criticized the Communist Chinese Party, and it has even resulted in Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) being banned and sanctioned in the country.
In response to the Winter Olympic Games being held in China, Florida Rep. Michael Waltz (R) called for “a full boycott!” Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) has not gone as far as to call for a "full boycott," rather that the games get moved out of China.
“We’ve been asking the International Olympic Committee to move the games for years so that our athletes can compete with their heads held high and shame on the IOC for not doing so and for forcing our athletes to choose between their values and being able to compete,” he added.
Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D) also called for a boycott, echoing President Biden by saying that “a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics is a proper way for the United States to condemn the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights violations.” “It does not bar our athletes from participating in the games, which I would strongly oppose,” she added.
Most recently, the Chinese Communist Party faced heavy criticism after Chinese professional tennis player Peng Shuai accused a high-ranking communist party official of sexually assaulting her. Then, she mysteriously disappeared.
