Don't send athletes to China

Should we send our Olympic athletes to China in February or not, that is the question.

Personally, I think it is obvious we should not participate for a number of reasons—most of them relating to the abysmal human rights record of the Communist Party of China.

It simply doesn't care about human rights, just ask the “two “Michaels,” (Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor) who suffered for more than 1,000 days in Chinese prisons for just being in China at the wrong time and held as political pawns.

Then there is the continuing human rights violations and confinement of the Uighur's because they are Muslim.

There is Covid-19, which originated in China and (it) delayed reporting to the rest of the world and the World Health Organization after much denial.

And we must not forget about the broken conditions of the repatriation of Hong Kong and the continued harassment and intimidation and threats to Taiwan.

Now China wants to be rewarded once again with the 2022 Winter Olympics. Well, I for one believe that if we send our Olympic athletes to these games it would be a colossal insult to the two Michaels and would show how little Canada really thinks about human rights and how the rest of the world would feels about us as a country.

Would our athletes and officials be safe in China and what about the continuing problems of Covid-19 in China and the rest of the world?

Would China care if we didn't go, probably not, but it would make me proud if we didn't.

Is it worth the risk? I think not.

Brent Hilton, Penticton