Commentary: The absence of the U.S. delegation might cause a stir at the start, but it will be pretty much ignored.<\/b>
\nRefusing to send an official U.S. delegation while U.S. athletes compete at the Beijing Olympics is like dropping off dessert at a party you plan to protest by staying away. Your absence might cause a stir at the start, but it will be pretty much ignored by the time people tuck into their pie. To be sure, refusing to rub elbows with tyrants and assorted swells from the International Olympic Committee is the right thing to do. It\u2019s been done before, and for less. The regime in Beijing is enslaving Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province, crushing dissent in Hong Kong, threatening neighboring Taiwan and been accused most recently of \u201cdisappearing\u201d tennis star Peng Shuai after she made a sexual assault allegation against a close ally of President Xi Jinping. So while the Biden administration\u2019s \u201cdiplomatic boycott\u201d is a half-step at best, it\u2019s also a lot farther than any organization save the Women\u2019s Tennis Association has gone to hold China accountable for its grave and varied human rights abuses. What remains to be seen is whether any other stakeholders follow their lead. White House press secretary Jen Psaki made clear Monday that U.S. athletes won\u2019t be involved, perhaps remembering the unpopular decision by then-President Jimmy Carter to support a full-blown boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980. \u201cThe athletes on Team USA have our full support,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will be behind them 100% as we cheer them on from home. We will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games.\u2026 \u201cIt cannot,\u201d Psaki added a moment later, \u201cbe business as usual.\u201d Yet that\u2019s exactly what the hosts and their IOC lapdogs are counting on. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused U.S. politicians of \u201cpurely wishful thinking and grandstanding. If the U.S. side is bent on going its own way, China will take firm countermeasures,\u201d he said, but provided no details on how the Chinese might retaliate. Most likely, they won\u2019t have to do much. So long as the Games\u2019 mega-sponsors \u2013 A-listers such as Coca-Cola, Intel, P&G, Toyota and Visa \u2013 are willing to continue looking the other way, they won\u2019t have to. That\u2019s where the IOC comes in. The same IOC that struck a mighty blow against apartheid by withdrawing its invitation to South Africa ahead of the 1964 Olympics, and excluding the rogue nation from any Games until 1992, lost its moral compass a long time ago. The people in charge now care only about the Benjamins, or in this case, the Renmibi. In a statement, the IOC expressed relief \u201cthat the participation of the (U.S.) athletes are beyond politics and we welcome this.\u201d It also labeled the move to keep U.S. dignitaries away \u201ca purely political decision for each government, which the IOC in its political neutrality fully respects.\u201d Please. Just witness the political whitewash IOC President Thomas Bach and his lieutenant Dick Pound attempted two weeks ago, when the question about Peng\u2019s well-being roiled the sports world. They claimed the IOC\u2019s experts (who were not named) concluded unanimously on the basis of a video call with Peng (that has not been made public) \u201cthat she was fine.\u201d \u201cShe just asked that her privacy be respected for the time being,\u201d Pound said in an interview with CNN. Thankfully, he wasn\u2019t asked for updates on the Uyghurs in prison or the Hong Kong protestors in hiding. The NBA notably backed down in a 2019 confrontation with Chinese officials after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of protestors in Hong Kong. Sponsors, television stations and streaming services there dropped NBA games for months; the league estimated the fallout from Morey\u2019s tweet cost it $400 million. The NBA is hardly the only big American brand that has been cowed into silence as the price of doing business in China escalates. And it\u2019s not just the Olympic sponsors, either. Starbucks, Apple, Google, Nike and a host of others may find it harder to chart a course forward as already turbulent relations with China head toward even choppier air. One thing you can be certain of is that none of them will take the path that chief executive Steve Simon chose for the WTA. He ordered tournaments suspended in China \u2014 a move that could cost his organization a cool $1 billion \u2014 until he saw proof that Peng \u201cis free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion and intimidation.\u201d In a separate CNN interview not long after, Simon explained his rationale. All the heads of state and kings of industry contemplating what to do next would choke trying to be half as sincere. \u201cThere are too many times in our world today when we get into issues like this and we let business, politics, money dictate what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong,\u201d Simon said. \u201cWe have to start, as a world, making decisions that are based on right and wrong, period.\u201d If only. Comments are not available on this story. Send questions\/comments to the editors. \u00ab Previous<\/p>\n