Biden administration backtracks on Beijing Winter Olympics boycott
Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla. and 'Bully of Asia' author Steven Mosher weigh in on 'The Ingraham Angle'
Critics excoriated liberal MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin over the weekend for referring to human rights abuses perpetrated by China as "alleged," and suggested he was pandering to the communist nation because of his employer's planned television coverage of the Olympic Games.
"Japan has decided not to send senior officials to the Beijing Olympics in February — a move that will align it with the U.S. diplomatic boycott over China's alleged human rights abuses," Griffin wrote on Twitter.
CHINA THREATENS ‘FIRM COUNTERMEASURES’ IF US PROCEEDS WITH DIPLOMATIC BOYCOTT OF BEIJING OLYMPICS
Japan announced Friday that it would not be sending a government delegation to represent them at the Beijing Winter Games early next year, a move that followed a decision by the U.S. and a number of its allies to diplomatically boycott the Games by also not sending a delegation.
The Biden administration cited "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity" as the reason for the boycott, referring to the genocide being perpetrated by the Chinese government against its own Uyghur people in the Xinjiang region of Northwest China.
Supporters of China's Muslim Uighur minority wave the flag of East Turkestan and hold placards on December 20, 2019 during a demostration at Fatih in Istanbul. - (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP) (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images) (OZAN KOSE/AFP)
US MUST NOT ENABLE EVIL IN CHINA AND AT THE BEIJING OLYMPICS
Critics quickly took to social media to blast Griffin, with many slamming his use of the word "alleged" to describe the abuses committed by China against its own people, and others accusing NBC of joining the NBA and Hollywood in "kissing up to" China.
CHINA SLAMS NBC FOR AIRING ‘INCOMPLETE’ MAP DURING OLYMPIC COVERAGE
"NBC paid $7.75 billion for the rights to the Olympics from 2022 to 2032, including Beijing, so the word ‘alleged’ is doing a lot of CYA here," former communications director for the Trump 2020 campaign Tim Murtaugh wrote, while other critics suggested Griffin's tweet wouldn't age well.
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The relative of someone described as one of China's Uyghur victims slammed Griffin, saying that they were offended by his choice of words and that there needed to be a hard line from Americans when it came to the carrying out of genocide.
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