HUMAN RIGHTSTHE OLYMPICS ANDTHE UYGHURS/ KEVIN ANDREWS18 Australian PolityEditorial credit: Phil Pasquini / Shutterstock.com
Guess which country is a gold medallist for Olympicboycotts. Surely not the country that claimedrecently a diplomatic boycott to be a ‘politicalmanipulation and a grave distortion of the OlympicCharter.’ If you guessed China, you would be correct. ThePRC boycotted the Olympics in Melbourne in 1956, Tokyoin 1964, Montreal in 1976 and Moscow in 1980. Thesewere full boycotts, not simply the diplomatic boycottsimposed by the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealandand Lithuania to date on the Beijing Winter games. Othersmay follow: last July the European Parliament passed aresolution urging EU leaders to ‘refuse the invitation ofgovernment officials and diplomats to attend the Beijing2022 Winter Olympics.’At first, the Chinese Communist Party was dismissive ofthe action which had already been foreshadowed whensome 20 nations declined the sign the traditional Olympictruce. Foreign dignitaries weren’t invited was the officialline. ‘Whether they come or not, nobody cares,’ said CCPForeign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin. But whenthe decisions were announced, the CCP propagandaswung to its usual high dungeon: the West would payfor this snub.True to form, the International Olympic Committee fell inbehind the CCP. The Olympics are about human flourishingaccording to the IOC. Tell that to the millions of Uyghurs,Tibetans, Hong Kongers and others suffering from theCCP’s brutal activities.The IOC is conflicted, if not compromised, over China.Even the uniforms worn by the IOC members andadministrators for both the Tokyo and Beijing Olympicsare supplied by the Hengyuanxiang Group, which has atextiles factory in Xinjiang where the use of Uyghur slavelabor is common.Five years ago, the CCP and the IOC were involved inthe closure of the UN Office on Sport for Developmentand Peace, giving more power to each. The UN itself ishighly conflicted. An employee, Emma Reilly recentlyaccused the Commission for Human Rights of sharingnames of dissidents with the Chinese authorities, whothen arrest them and place them in detention camps.‘China wants to make sure that the Uyghur genocide isnever discussed anywhere in the UN,’ she said.The IOC’s reaction to the ‘disappearance’ of the tennisstar, Peng Shuai, is telling. ‘Nothing to see here,’ is themessage from the Olympics body after a staged videocall between IOC president Thomas Bach and Peng. Itis most unlikely that Peng organised the call. A ChineseIOC member, Li Lingwei, was also on the call, but all thathas emerged is a photo of Peng talking to Bach. Therewas no transcript. It has also emerged that another callwas also held, but again the details are vague.The attitude of the IOC stands in stark contrast to theWomen’s Tennis Association Tour, whose CEO, SteveSimon, led the global concerns about Peng. Despiterepeated attempts to contact Peng, the WTA remainsunable to connect. Based on a likely choreographedcall to the IOC, the world is expected to believe Peng issafe. In contrast to the IOC, the WTA has announced itwill suspend tournaments in China.As these events were occurring, the independent ChinaTribunal issued a devastating report on the plight ofthe Uyghurs after a year-long investigation. Chaired bythe war crimes prosecutor, Sir Geoffrey Nice, the panelconcluded that China has committed genocide againstthe Uyghurs. The panel was ‘satisfied that President XiJinping, Chen Quanguo and other very senior officialsin the PRC and CCP bear primary responsibility for actsin Xinjiang.’ The tribunal accepted evidence of torture,mass internments, forcible transfer of Uyghur children tostate-run facilities, and a mass birth-prevention strategy.China had undertaken a ‘deliberate, systematic andconcerted policy’ to bring about the ‘long-term reductionof Uyghur and other ethnic minority populations.’ Whileacknowledging that there was “no evidence of masskillings” in Xinjiang yet, Sir Geoffrey said that the effortsto prevent births amounted to genocidal intent.Many of the same practices have been deployed inTibet, where some 800,000 children have been housedin state-run institutions. Chinese language and cultureare prioritised over Tibetan in a deliberate policy to wipeoutthe local culture.The Tribunal’s recent report followed previous findingsof Crimes Against Humanity against the Falan Gongpractitioners and Uyghurs had been proven beyondreasonable doubt.Australian Polity 19
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