At a bipartisan congressional hearing on Tuesday, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi proposed a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to human rights concerns.

Pelosi called on governments around the world not to honor the Chinese government by allowing their heads of state to go to China for the Olympics, saying:

For heads of state to go to China in light of a genocide that is ongoing while [the heads of state] are in their seats, really begs the question what moral authority do [the heads of state] have to speak about human rights in any place in the world if [the heads of state] are willing to pay their respects to the Chinese government as they commit genocide.

Pelosi’s commentary arises from the US Department of State’s release of the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The report labeled the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups as “genocide and crimes against humanity.”

Pelosi concluded by stating, “those who turn away from crimes against humanity bear responsibility for them.”