After the Chinese Communist Party's abuses on the nation's Uighur Muslims and its actions concerning coronavirus infections that ultimately led to a worldwide pandemic, it's hard to imagine "the American flag with our athletes there" in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Rep. Michael Waltz believes.
"You know the Chinese Communist Party unleashed coronavirus on the world," the Florida Republican said Tuesday on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "There are over 2 million dead worldwide. They covered it up. They arrested journalists, arrested doctors who were trying to ring the bell to the world."
In addition, there is "ongoing genocide" with the Uighurs, said Waltz, pointing out that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his nomination testimony, agreed about the issue.
"There is forced labor, forced rape, internment camps, and concentration camps with over a million Uighurs, not to mention what they've done to Hong Kong and basic religious freedoms with the Buddhist Tibetans and Christians," said Waltz. "This is an absolutely brutal dictatorship and I don't see how the International Olympics Committee gives them the honor of having the Olympic Games in this capital ... 180 international human rights organizations are also calling on the IOC to move the Games."
Waltz insisted he wants the Games to go on, but to be moved out of China, and he hopes that President Joe Biden will see that it is time to "walk the walk" when it comes to human rights.
He also called on corporate America to back the push to remove the Games from China, as companies stand to both make billions and pump billions into Beijing for the Games.
Waltz also discussed the continuing presence of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, noting that as a member of the Guard himself, he knows the soldiers have been pulled away from their careers and families to serve.
"They're sitting there with this open-ended mandate," said Waltz. "What is the threat that is so large that requires more soldiers on Capitol Hill than we have in Iraq and Afghanistan combined?"