In an interview with FOX News Digital on Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that it is a “mistake” that U.S. athletes are competing in the 2020 Winter Olympic Games, in China.
DeSantis also said the administration’s diplomatic boycott does not go far enough to stand up to America’s geopolitical foe.
“It’s a mistake that the United States is competing. This is a genocide Olympics. And the thing is you see these the broadcast on NBC where they’re whitewashing this stuff. You look at these corporate sponsors that are signing up on that. You know, they will blow, these corporations in America and they’ll blow a gasket, you know, for these small issues in the United States,” said DeSantis on Monday.
“But yet they’re willing to underwrite games of the country that’s committing genocide. I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. But I think the terrible ratings are a recognition that a lot of Americans realize that this is just wrong, and I think they’ve lost interest in it, and I think it’s unfortunate because I think we’ve got a lot of great athletes, but you know, to participate in this charade and acting like China is some, some normal country. You know, I think it’s really been disgraceful,” Desantis added.
China accused the U.S. of violating the spirit of the Olympics with its decision to hold a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 games and declared that the U.S. will “pay a price” for doing so, Bloomberg reported in December.
“The U.S. is standing opposed to athletes and sports lovers across the world,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in December. “The Olympics are not a stage for political stances or political manipulation.”
“The U.S. will pay a price for its wrong practices,” he continued, without specifying what actions the communist regime would take. Tensions between the two countries are high, with a video call between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping failing to produce any significant results in December.
The Chinese government’s genocide against Uyghur Muslims led to calls from numerous human rights organizations and prominent individuals for the U.S. to boycott the games. The pressure increased after tennis star Peng Shuai accused a former vice premier of sexual assault and went missing.
“The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, given the PRC’s ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a briefing in December.
In addition to his comments on China, DeSantis lambasted the Biden administration for the rising tensions with Russia and U.S. troops in Ukraine.
“That would have been Joe Biden’s doing, not ours. You know, my view is I don’t want to see American troops in Ukraine. I think that we have a lot of problems here in the United States. We’ve given Ukraine a lot of support over the years under the Trump administration we provided huge amounts of lethal aid, and so I think that they’ve been equipped to defend themselves, but to put American troops in the midst of that is not something that I want to see, particularly with Floridians.”
The U.S. has sent 1,700 troops to Poland and 300 to Germany. There are currently 150 Florida National Guard in Ukraine, from the Pinellas Park-based 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team that were deployed in November on a training rotation.
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