There’s a lot on the line as China hosts the 2022 Winter Olympic games. For people like U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her family, those risks are huge financial sums in the form of personal investments in China. For U.S. athletes, it could be their lives…or worse, a decline in the value of Pelosi’s investment portfolio in the communist nation.
According to Law Enforcement Times, “Pelosi used to criticize China – that was until her husband and son started raking in big bucks from them.”
Yet Pelosi’s warning was ominous and dark…if not threatening to the athletes themselves.
“I would say to our athletes, you’re there to compete. Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless,” the Speaker said. “I know there is a temptational part in 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.”
Keep your mouth shut while you’re in China, Pelos warned, or the athletes and their families might find themselves in harm’s way.
“As I wish the athletes well, I do not encourage them to speak out against the Chinese government there because I fear for their safety if they do,” Pelosi said after the start of the games. “To remove all doubt about why I said they shouldn’t speak out, it’s because I fear for their safety.”
The ruthless Chinese government can take punitive actions such as seizing Pelosi’s assets or barring her from trading in Chinese stocks. Worse, the Chinese Communist Party can jail American athletes for dissent while visiting for the games, now a real concern among some in Washington.
Pelosi faced backlash and criticism over her warning.
“This is despicable. We cannot allow the #CCP to walk all over us,” tweeted California Congresswoman Michelle Steel. “It is unacceptable that we’ve put our athletes in this position.”
“Why did Nancy Pelosi stand by as BLM protesters set fire to cities but tell American athletes to stop protesting China’s human rights violations?” asked Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn.
Pelosi urges the U.S. athletes in Japan to ignore the human rights abuses going on in the Olympics’ host nation while they are in-country…or else.