Young: Be Skeptical of China During the Winter Olympics

WASHINGTON–The Olympics are a time to cheer on American athletes, but people should also be skeptical of the Chinese Communist Party, said Sen. Todd Young, on WISH TV’s All INdiana Politics.

“In conjunction with cheering on our athletes we need to use this opportunity of the Winter Olympic Games to highlight the gross human rights abuses we’ve seen from Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party,” said Young.

He said people should not overlook the enslavement of Uyghur Muslims. Young said they’ve been forced to make Olympic gear. He also said the Chinese have mined data from Olympic athletes and suppressed journalists.

“All these things underscore that this is not a normal sort of Olympics and we need to put some context around what are otherwise friendly competitions,” said Young.

Young said he’s been pushing a social media hashtag “Bejingbehavingbadly”.

He also said he is ready to give whomever Pres. Biden picks as the next nominee for Supreme Court justice a fair look. No nominee has been named by the Biden administration, though the president has promised to name the first Black woman to serve on the court.

“I’m actually waiting for the president to finalize his selection. At that point I’ll really start kicking the tires of a nominee and making sure that they have the background, the temperament, the judicial approach to really faithfully apply our Constitution to a particular case.”

But, Young did express skepticism that the president “was going to produce someone who understands their role was not to legislate from the bench, but instead to just be faithful to the Constitution”.

“I’ll give this person a fair look. If they meet that high bar, they’ll have my support,” he said.