WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Senator Rick Scott sent a letter to leaders of NBA teams, Fortune 500 companies, the United Nations, and media urging them to use their respective roles to put human rights over profits, and stand with the Uyghurs and Hong Kongers living under the oppression of Communist China and General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Read the Senator’s letter below.

September 29, 2020

To Whom it May Concern:

I write to you with grave concern regarding the violation of human rights in Communist China and the role America must take to combat this evil abroad. For far too long, the world has turned a blind eye to General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Communist Party’s oppressive tactics.

Under General Secretary Xi, more than a million Uyghurs are being held in internment camps designed to erase their cultural identity. They are constantly surveilled, faced with re-education programs and doctors routinely harvesting their organs. The Chinese Communist Party is forcibly sterilizing Uyghur women and aborting their unborn children.

In Hong Kong, a newly enacted security law is silencing brave, pro-democracy activists and anyone who dares to oppose the regime. Those advocating for human rights and the autonomy they were promised in the 1997 handover are being arrested and detained.

Historically, politicians in the United States believed the Chinese government would change, and come into the global order. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Years of espionage, intellectual property theft, unfair trade practices, and genocide of religious minorities are not characteristics of a country seeking to join the global order. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the threat Communist China poses to regional and global security.

Therefore, I write today to ask: Are you willing to support a country committed to abusing and killing Muslim citizens in concentration camps? Are you willing to stand idly by as Hong Kongers are stripped of their dignity and basic rights? If this was happening in America, what would you do?

            Human rights are universal—they apply at all times and in all places. They are not a tool to use only when it serves our interests. Today, I am urging you – in your roles as Presidents, Prime Ministers, Governors, business leaders, athletes, journalists and broadcasters, to choose human rights and stand with the Uyghurs and Hong Kongers living under the oppression of Communist China. I urge you to choose human rights over profits, and to choose human rights over the convenience of turning a blind eye.

I urge the International Olympic Committee to find a new home for the 2022 Olympic Games, and not to feed into a false depiction of global unity that rewards this oppressive regime.

I urge all companies to re-evaluate the labor they have outsourced to Communist China and acknowledge the human rights abuses committed against innocent Uyghurs.

I urge the NBA and its athletes to use their platform to stand up for human rights, and stop playing games in Communist China.

I urge political leaders across the globe to join the United States in standing up to Communist China. Their growing influence in every region of the globe presents a clear danger to the stability of world markets, to regional and global security, and to the global quest for freedom and democracy.

Finally, I urge the media to shed light on Communist China’s atrocities, and to tell the stories of those Chinese citizens who have suffered because of their political and religious beliefs. Show Beijing that their censorship will not silence the voices of those they oppress.

The challenges posed by Communist China are significant, and it is up to businesses and leaders like you to either embrace the values of democracy and human rights, or cower to the whims of dictators like General Secretary Xi. We can stand up and fight, and we must face this challenge head-on.

I will fight every day to make sure we come down on the right side of history, and I invite you to join me in this fight.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

United States Senator

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