Open letter to Channel 7 re: 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

MEDIA RELEASE

27 January 2022

#NoBeijing2022

RALLY TO BOYCOTT BEIJING WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES
FRIDAY, 28TH JANUARY 2022
8am: Martin Place, Sydney (In front of Channel 7 studio)

Open letter to Channel 7 re: 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

The Australian Government recently announced that it is joining other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games because of China’s ongoing human rights abuses.

 

We are calling for Channel 7 to also say “No Beijing 2022”. #NoBeijing2022

 

We are a coalition of Uyghur, Hong Kong, Tibetan, and Taiwanese community members and we make this statement to Channel 7 about their involvement in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics:

Professional sports and global politics have always been deeply entwined, and all the more so in an authoritarian country.

There is no way for you to cover these games without also endorsing Chinese state control.

It is not possible to work with the regime and not become complicit in their human-rights abuses.

The Chinese Government’s human rights abuses are numerous and ongoing, from the recent Peng Shuai sexual-assault allegations and her disappearance to the Uyghur genocide, the destruction of freedoms in Hong Kong and the ongoing brutal occupation of Tibet.

History will not forget those who look the other way; the Chinese people who are suffering — in addition to the Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, Taiwanese, and others living in fear — will not forgive those who ignore their plight. China must not be allowed to sportswash these games.

Hong Kong as a free, vibrant society is disappearing in front of our eyes under increasing Chinese Government authoritarianism.

Millions of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim peoples are locked in concentration camps. The US State Department has rightly labelled this as genocide. The London-based Uyghur Tribunal has ruled that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide.

In addition to 50 years of oppression and human rights abuses, Tibetan children are now being separated from their families and forced into Chinese state-run boarding schools — from ages as young as 5. Where they are not allowed to practice their religion and are being taught CCP propaganda curriculum in Mandarin. This has shameful similarities to Australia’s own colonial policies, which resulted in the Stolen generation.

Chinese citizen journalist and former lawyer Zhang Zhan, who was given a four-year jail term over her reporting of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan when the pandemic began, is perilously close to death in prison due to mistreatment and intermittent hunger strikes.

As Channel 7 transmits jubilant scenes from Beijing on 4 February 2022, will you also acknowledge what is happening outside the walls of the arenas?

Will you make sure the world also knows about the human rights abuses inflicted on Tibetans? Uyghurs? Hong Kongers? Chinese activists?

Will you provide a platform for athletes wishing to speak up, or will you air Chinese propaganda?

Do not participate in China’s sports washing propaganda. Say No Beijing 2022.

Organiser Contact

Dr Zoe Bedford
Australia Tibet Council
Zoe.Bedford@atc.org.au
0408 262 576

Ramila Chanisheff
Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association
admin@autwa.org
0402 531 706

Richard Lue
Perth Anti-CCP Association
johnmoser2012@gmail.com
0431336801

Chongyi Feng
President, the Australian and New Zealand Alliance for Victims of the Chinese Communist Regime
0417676389

Mehmet Obul
Australian Uyghur Association President
0400 502 669

Bahtiyar Bora
Executive Director, Stop Uyghur Genocide Australia
awral60@gmail.com