"US Suggests Not Sending Spectators Instead of Boycotting Beijing Winter Olympics"

Former Salt Lake City Winter Olympics Organizing Committee Chair Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator, Claims
"Refusing to Send Athletes Has No Practical Benefit"
Urges Not to Respond with Economic Diplomacy but to Invite Chinese Dissidents to the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is speaking in front of athletes, coaches, and staff at the National Alpine Ski Center located in Yanqing District, Beijing, the capital, on the 18th. This venue is scheduled to host the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics. This is President Xi's fourth inspection of the Winter Olympics host site since 2017.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] There has been a call for the United States to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics while blocking China from gaining economic benefits. As demands for a 'boycott' of the Winter Olympics increase within the US political circles, attention is focused on whether this could emerge as a realistic alternative for the US government.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney stated in an op-ed for The New York Times on the 15th (local time), "Not sending the US team athletes to the Olympics is an easy but wrong answer," and instead argued that "an economic and diplomatic boycott should be pursued."

Senator Romney served as the chairman of the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee in 2002. He argued, "Considering the hard work of the athletes I came to know while working with the Olympic organizing committee, it is not right to burden American athletes with the refusal to participate in the Olympics."

He also demanded that "American companies should send tourists to the US instead of sending spectators to the Olympics." This means that companies should not invite customers to the Olympics for marketing purposes during the Olympic period.

Romney's argument means allowing athletes to participate in the Olympic Games while restricting American spectators from attending the events to block the economic benefits that the Chinese government, Communist Party, and companies would gain.

Mitt Romney, a Republican lawmaker and former chairman of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics Organizing Committee
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Senator Romney emphasized, "Let's express a rejection of China's human rights abuses in a way that harms the Chinese Communist Party more than American athletes."

He also assessed that the US's absence from the 1980 Moscow Olympics failed to achieve its goals and only shattered the dreams of the athletes.

Romney proposed that instead of sending diplomatic envoys to China for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the US government should invite Chinese dissidents, religious leaders, and representatives of ethnic minorities to the United States.

He insisted that NBC, the US Olympic broadcaster, should block broadcasts emphasizing Chinese patriotism during the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and instead air content showing China's human rights violations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.