Sec. of State Blinken Says Talk of Boycotting 2022 Beijing Olympics Is ‘Premature’

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Meet the Press Sunday that talk of the U.S. boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics is “premature” right now.

Last week, comments from a State Department spokesperson suggested the U.S. would be considering a boycott, but the Biden administration clarified that is not on the table right now.

There have been calls for the U.S. to boycott the Olympics over the repression of Uyghur Muslims in China.

Chuck Todd spoke with Blinken about China on Sunday, addressing both the Covid-19 pandemic and Blinken’s comments saying China is engaging in genocide. A recent State Department report said the same.

Todd asked Blinken, “How do you justify doing business with China or any country that you believe is committing genocide?”

Blinken responded, “We need to be able to bring the world together in speaking with one voice in condemning what has taken place and what continues to take place. We need to take actually concrete actions to make sure, for example, that none of our companies are providing China with things that they can use to repress populations, including the Uyghur population”

He added that the U.S. still has “to be able to deal with China on areas where [U.S.] interests are implicated and require working with China, even as we stand resolutely against egregious violations of human rights, or in this case, acts of genocide.”

Todd then brought up calls for an Olympics boycott and asked, “Is that on the table among Western allies or not?”

“Chuck, we’re not there yet,” Blinken said. “This is a year or so before the Olympics. We’re not focused on a boycott. What we are focused on is talking, consulting closely with our allies and partners, listening to them, listening to concerns. But that’s premature.”

You can watch above, via NBC.