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I hope you saw my latest weekly column.

 

ROGER WICKER: Communist Regime Wants World to Ignore Human Rights Abuses
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When Beijing first hosted the Olympics in 2008, it was clear that China had
emerged as a major power. Some had wondered whether this fast-modernizing
nation, with its close economic ties to the West, might begin taking gradual
steps toward openness and respect for human rights. But the communist state had
more sinister plans. Now, as Beijing unveils the 2022 Winter Olympics, some are
aptly calling it the Genocide Games in recognition of China’s growing trail of
human rights abuses. As we pull for Team USA this month, it is important that
China not succeed in sweeping its own atrocities under the rug.

In recent years, China has lurched toward ever harsher dictatorship while
dramatically expanding its global influence, creating a rival system to the
free world. It has launched a disturbingly Orwellian “social credit” system
that tracks the behavior of its citizens, doling out rewards and punishments to
keep society under control. It has also clamped down on freedoms in Hong Kong,
a once-self-governing city where free speech is now dying and protesters are
being thrown in jail. In addition, China’s genocidal acts against
the Uyghur minority group are well documented and include imprisonment, forced
labor, and forced sterilization of women. Christians and Falun Gong
practitioners have also come under increased persecution. And with the world’s
largest navy fleet, China is now openly threatening to invade its free and
prosperous neighbor, Taiwan.

Given these unsettling behaviors, China should never have been awarded the
2022 Olympics. These games serve only to enrich and legitimize the communist
regime while numbing the world to its crimes. The international community and
our athletes deserve better.

Communist State Ramps Up Propaganda Machine

Beijing’s propaganda efforts were on full display at the opening ceremony,
where a hand-picked athlete of Uyghur heritage was allowed to light the Olympic
torch on behalf of China. This gesture was meant to show China’s “tolerance”
toward the Uyghurs, but was in fact a cruel farce, as there are reportedly two
million Uyghurs currently locked up in concentration camps. This Uyghur
athlete’s staged appearance was reminiscent of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin,
when Nazi Germany allowed a sole Jewish athlete to represent Germany while
Hitler quietly planned the Holocaust.

The world caught another ugly glimpse into Chinese state corruption in the
case of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star. Last year, when Ms. Peng accused a
top Chinse official of rape, she disappeared for two weeks without explanation.
She then reemerged to participate in several carefully scripted TV interviews,
where she denied ever having made the accusation. In the most recent interview,
she called the whole episode “a huge misunderstanding” even as a Chinese
official could be seen monitoring her in the background.

China Is Unfit to Lead the World

Americans can see right through these communist propaganda charades. This is
the same kind of obfuscation we saw in 2020, when China covered up the origins
of COVID-19 and prevented an objective inquiry from taking place. We are now
getting a cold, hard look at what life would be like under a Chinese-led
international order – a world that would increasingly muzzle free speech,
punish dissenters, and promote official lies to benefit those in power. I hope
those countries and private corporations who are showing signs of yielding to
Chinese influence think twice and consider the consequences. We need all hands
on deck to preserve the free world.

 

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Thank you for your support,

Senator Roger Wicker

 

 

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