November 16, 2021
China Uncovered


We are excited to announce the second season of the China Uncovered podcast is now available on Acast <[link removed]>, Apple Podcasts <[link removed]>, Spotify <[link removed]>, or your favorite podcast app. In this podcast, Heritage Senior Policy Analyst Olivia Enos hosts representatives of world-class data projects to discuss how their projects are shining a spotlight on the Chinese Communist Party’s actions and emerging trends from their data.
**UPDATE**: on November 8, we released our fourth episode: CCP Leadership Politics
featuring Victor Shih <[link removed]>. Stay tuned for our next episode on November 22!
Why Biden Should Say No to U.S. Government Participation at the Beijing Olympics
The Olympics is the most prestigious sporting event in the world. Athletes train their entire lives for the chance to compete on the international stage. The privilege of hosting the games should not be granted to a regime that is committing genocide.

In a November 11 article, Heritage Senior Policy Analyst Olivia Enos writes <[link removed]> that given Beijing’s worsening human rights track record, a response is merited. Today, at least 1.8 million Uyghurs are held in political reeducation camps where they are subject to rape and sexual violence, reeducation, and forced labor, among other horrors. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a stated goal of forcibly sterilizing at least 80 percent of Uyghur women of child-bearing age. The stories emanating from the camps confirm the world’s worst fears that—as the Trump administration determined on their last day in office—Uyghurs are facing ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity. Beijing has crossed several other lines as well. It has undermined freedom and liberty in Hong Kong—upending, with the stroke of a pen, the “one country, two systems” framework that had secured the civil and political liberties of Hong Kong residents. And, of course, there is China’s irresponsible handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Having kicked the can down the road more than nine months, it may no longer be possible for the Biden administration to press the International Olympic Committee to postpone the Olympics (as was done just four months prior to the original start date of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, due to the pandemic) for the purposes of selecting a new, rights-respecting host. However, it is not too late for the Biden administration to announce a diplomatic boycott.

A diplomatic boycott has several key advantages. If all representatives of the U.S. government (beyond what his necessary for the participation and safety of U.S. athletes) refuse to attend the games, they ensure that they do not tacitly condone Beijing’s deplorable human rights abuses. Unlike a full boycott, a diplomatic boycott would not deny American athletes, who have trained their whole lives for the games, the opportunity to participate. It would, however, maintain consistency of U.S. policy—not contradicting earlier efforts, like multilateral sanctions issued in March 2021 by the U.S., the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom over the situation facing Uyghurs.

While a diplomatic boycott is a second-best option to postponing and moving the games, it is the most politically feasible option now.

When the Biden administration took office, they were handed a mandate from the Trump administration—a free pass, if you will—when the previous administration issued the atrocity determination for Uyghurs. It was a call to respond to Beijing’s treatment of the Uyghurs as much as it was a call to respond to China’s human rights record generally. Now, it is time for the administration, working in partnership with allies and friends, to undertake a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Related: Click here <[link removed]> to view Heritage's 2021 China Transparency Report.
End-of-Korean-War Declaration Could Have Serious Consequences for Alliance Security
Heritage Senior Research Fellow Bruce Klingner writes <[link removed]> that South Korea continues to push for a declaration ending the Korean War despite U.S. resistance and North Korean rejection. With only a few months left in his administration, President Moon Jae-in is increasingly desperate to secure a legacy of improving inter-Korean relations despite Pyongyang’s continuing provocations and threats.

Prevented by international sanctions from providing economic largesse to Pyongyang, Moon resurrected his proposal for an end-of-war (EOW) declaration in an effort to jumpstart dialogue with the recalcitrant regime. Washington countered that a declaration should not be offered as an upfront inducement but as a component of a comprehensive denuclearization agreement. North Korea continues to reject all allied attempts at dialogue, instead demanding significant concessions before considering Seoul’s conciliatory offer.

An EOW declaration would be a historic feel-good and meaningless gesture without any tangible benefits, and would do nothing to improve the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. It would not reduce the North Korean military threat to the allies or alleviate distrust and suspicion on either side. It would only provide an amorphous hope that it would improve relations and lead Pyongyang to undertake undefined positive actions.

The United States and its allies should be wary of initiating peace talks with North Korea without a thorough understanding of the complexity of such negotiations as well as the wide-ranging strategic ramifications of such an agreement. While the armistice has provided the framework for peace, it has been the presence of strong South Korean and U.S. military forces that has actually guaranteed the peace.

-