Kaine, Romney Applaud Administration’s Decision to Diplomatically Boycott Beijing Olympics

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mitt Romney (R-UT) today released the following joint statement after the Administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games:

“We applaud the President’s decision to withhold any diplomatic presence from the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. America must not lend its credibility to the Chinese Communist Party, which represses ethnic and religious minorities — committing genocide against its Uyghur citizens, oppressing the people of Hong Kong, and subjugating the people of Tibet. Never again must the Olympics be awarded to a nation which so blatantly violates the human rights of its own citizens.”

Background:

Senator Romney began calling for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games in March. In April, Senators Romney and Kaine offered a measure to the bipartisan Strategic Competition Act of 2021 to mandate a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics in light of the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing human rights abuses, including the Uyghur genocide. In June, the Senate passed the Endless Frontiers Act with the senators’ amendment to mandate a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Last month, with their colleagues Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Ed Markey (D-MA), Romney and Kaine offered their legislation as an amendment to the annual national defense authorization bill. 

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