Key Points
- Warnings are coming from all directions for athletes heading to China for the Olympic Games.
- They’ve been told to buy a temporary phone and keep quiet about human rights issues.
- FBI Chief Christopher Wray says ‘no country presents a border threat.’
Well this year’s Olympic Games will be…interesting.
Last month, Human Rights Watch warned Olympic athletes to “stay silent” about human rights issues as they will “not be protected” in an “Orwellian surveillance state,” the BBC reported.
“My advice for athletes who are there and my hope for athletes who are going there is to stay silent,” said Nordic skier Noah Hoffmanm, speaking at the Human Rights Watch seminar.
Then, the FBI issued a warning about the danger of personal cell phones. The advice: leave them at home. “The FBI urges all athletes to keep their personal cell phones at home and use a temporary phone while at the Games,” the bureau wrote.
“Remain vigilant.”
Now, FBI Chief Christopher Wray has issued a warning, my broadly, about the dangers of China; Wray delivered the remarks in a recent speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
“No country … presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China,” Wray said in his speech. “The harm from the Chinese government’s economic espionage isn’t just that its companies pull ahead based on illegally gotten technology. While they pull ahead, they push our companies and workers behind.”
“That harm — company failures, job losses — has been building for a decade to the crush we feel today. It’s harm felt across the country, by workers in a whole range of industries.”
“I want to focus on it [the threat from China] here tonight because it’s reached a new level — more brazen, more damaging, than ever before, and it’s vital — vital — that all of us focus on that threat together,” Wray added.
Many countries —including America —have decided to risk the danger, proceeding with mostly-ineffective diplomatic boycotts. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the Biden administration is “very focused on the safety of American athletes” at the upcoming games.
“In terms of athletes, we do everything possible to work in coordination with the U.S. Olympic Committee,” Psaki said. “We’re providing consular and security services to our athletes, coaches, trainers, and staff, as we do for all U.S. citizens overseas.”
“Additionally, we expect the PRC to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our athletes,” the press secretary continued, noting the athletes have their “full support.”
You expect China to ensure the athletes safety, Jen?
All signs point to them doing the opposite.
