Impact Of Potential China Olympic Games Boycott On LA’s Economy, Plus A 1980 Moscow Boycott History Lesson

China’s government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned of an unspecified “robust Chinese response” to a potential Olympics boycott.

Human rights groups are protesting China’s hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022. They have urged a boycott or other measures to call attention to accusations of Chinese abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and residents of Hong Kong.

The U.S. State Department suggested an Olympic boycott was among the possibilities but a senior official said later a boycott has not been discussed. The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said in the past they oppose boycotts.

We discuss the potential repercussions of a U.S. boycott of the China games and their ripple effects to the 2028 Los Angeles games. 

With files from the Associated Press. 

Guests:

David Wharton, feature sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times who’s been covering the Olympics; he tweets @LATimesWharton

Stephen Cheung, president of World Trade Center Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that focuses on attracting foreign direct investments to the Los Angeles region; he is also the chief operating officer for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), a non-profit that promotes and secures economic activity for the region;  he tweets @WTCLAStephen

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, associate professor of strategy and policy at U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island, historian and author of the book “Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War,” (Cambridge University Press, 2010)

China’s government warned Washington on Wednesday not to boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing after the Biden administration said it was talking with allies about a joint approach to complaints of human rights abuses.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. He warned of an unspecified “robust Chinese response” to a potential Olympics boycott.

Human rights groups are protesting China’s hosting of the games, due to start in February 2022. They have urged a boycott or other measures to call attention to accusations of Chinese abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and residents of Hong Kong.

The U.S. State Department suggested an Olympic boycott was among the possibilities but a senior official said later a boycott has not been discussed. The International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee have said in the past they oppose boycotts.

We discuss the potential repercussions of a U.S. boycott of the China games and their ripple effects to the 2028 Los Angeles games. 

With files from the Associated Press. 

Guests:

David Wharton, feature sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times who’s been covering the Olympics; he tweets @LATimesWharton

Stephen Cheung, president of World Trade Center Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that focuses on attracting foreign direct investments to the Los Angeles region; he is also the chief operating officer for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), a non-profit that promotes and secures economic activity for the region;  he tweets @WTCLAStephen

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, associate professor of strategy and policy at U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island, historian and author of the book “Dropping the Torch: Jimmy Carter, the Olympic Boycott, and the Cold War,” (Cambridge University Press, 2010)