Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Monday calling for a meeting to move the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics out of China over human rights violations.
“I write to request a meeting at the soonest possible date for us to discuss the NBA’s involvement in Communist China,” Scott wrote to Silver. “As I am sure you know, I have been vocal about the league’s use of Communist Chinese-made apparel, its decision to crack down on Daryl Morey after his comments about protests in Hong Kong, the abuse of young players at NBA academies, and your organization’s silence about Communist China’s horrific human rights abuses and the ongoing genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
“I have also urged the NBA to support my call to move the 2022 Olympic Games out of Communist China and to a country that actually respects human rights. Sadly, you have chosen to be silent on this as well.”
According to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimated “80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang and assigned to factories in a range of supply chains including electronics, textiles, and automotives under a central government policy known as ‘Xinjiang Aid.'” The report detailed the Uyghurs transferred outside of Xinjiang are being subjected to “potentially abusive labor transfer programs.”
“I want to be very clear,” Scott continued, “the issues I have outlined are neither speculative nor subject to debate. These are facts. The NBA has done nothing to stand up to Communist China, and in some ways has taken actions that seem to have no purpose other than to please General Secretary Xi’s murderous and tyrannical Communist Chinese government.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Monday the “Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games given the [People’s Republic of China’s] ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.”
