Why any democracy would participate in any event hosted by China, especially the Olympic Games, is beyond comprehension, given the country's abysmal human rights history and Communist authoritarianism.
Then again, it is legitimate to ask why the Olympic Committee would have allowed China to host the games in the first place.
Both of those issues came to mind late last week when a Dutch reporter was accosted and physically dragged away during a live broadcast, leaving his network host staring on in shock and disbelief.
The Daily Wire reported that, according to a translator, the anchorwoman said, “We are going to China, to our correspondent Sjoerd. Sjoerd, you are near the stadium, what is China gonna show in the next hours?”
The translator noted that Sjoerd den Daas, a correspondent for NOS Journaal, began by saying, “Yeah, well, we are getting pulled away, as you might notice, we have also been forced to leave another area, so I fear we’ll have to get —”
You can see him being accosted in the video below:
NOW - Coverage of the #Beijing Winter Olympics begins.pic.twitter.com/E1wiuFB1SC
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 4, 2022
A separate report from Insider, meanwhile, described the incident this way: “A TV journalist was manhandled off-camera by a guard while reporting live outside the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony.”
“The interruption came from a man wearing a black jacket and a red band around the sleeve which appears to distinguish him a ‘Public Security Volunteer,’ a citizen-led neighborhood watch established to help police maintain order,” The Daily Mail noted further, adding:
It is unclear what Mr den Daas was doing a prompt intervention, but NOS later tweeted that he was able to continue the report minutes later.
However, observers suspect that the media handlers stepped in because den Haas was filming in an unphotogenic location, on a badly lit street rather than the glamorous Bird’s Nest stadium.
The incident with the Dutch journalist came as an American leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), appeared to bend a knee to her ChiCom masters when warning U.S. athletes not to "speak out" against China's well-known human rights abuses while they are competing in the games because it might make Xi Jinping and the rest of his Communist thug regime upset.
“I would say to our athletes — you are there to compete,” Pelosi noted, in part, during testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless. I know there is a temptation on the part of some to speak out while they are there, I respect that. But, I also worry about what the Chinese government might do to their reputations, to their families.”
Additionally, Bloomberg News reported:
The commission’s hearing on the eve of opening ceremonies for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing was organized as a platform for Pelosi and several activists to highlight China’s human rights record, including reports of forced labor and acts of genocide against the Uyghur ethnic community in the Xinjiang region as well as suppression of democratic protests in Hong Kong and religious repression of Tibet’s Buddhists.
Some Republicans have also pushed back on U.S. participation in the games. In December after President Biden announced the U.S. would diplomatically boycott the Games, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) wrote a letter to American-based corporate sponsors of the Olympics, who include Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Bridgestone, Intel, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Visa, Comcast, Delta Air Lines, Salesforce, Deloitte, Nike, Jetset Sports, Oakley, Ralph Lauren and Toyota, urging the companies to acknowledge China's abuses.
"I write today to strongly urge you to use your public platforms and multimillion-dollar advertising budget, with a combined reach of billions of people, to raise awareness on the atrocities being performed by the Chinese government to end its abuses and to pressure China to end its human rights violations," she said.
None did, of course, because prostituting themselves for Chinese cash is more important than their integrity.
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