A Chinese software company sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for its surveillance of the Uyghur minority turns out to be a major sponsor in the upcoming Beijing 2022 Olympics.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that iFlytek has been awarded exclusive supplier of the Beijing Winter Olympics' automated translation software out of its ties with the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance schemes on the Uyghurs and other minority groups. iFlytek is one among the artificial intelligence firms sanctioned by the U.S. Commerce department because of their "human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance."
Reacting to news on iFlytek's involvement in the Olympics, Idaho Senator Jim Risch called out the International Olympic Committee for its "truly shameful" decision that's mostly motivated by money. Risch is currently ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"The International Olympic Committee, which claims to 'recognize and uphold human rights,' is allowing a Chinese state-sponsored company that aids the Chinese government's atrocious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs to sponsor the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. This just goes to show that the IOC values profit and its relationship with Beijing over all else," Risch told The Washington Free Beacon.
Texas Senator Michael McCaul, who is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, seconded Risch's remarks and highlighted that China's values continue to be "threat" to the United States.
"(iFlytek's) official involvement in the Olympics is a perfect example of how the Chinese Communist Party's influence is a threat to American values," McCaul told The Washington Free Beacon.
The Beijing Winter Olympics has received international flak and calls for boycott due to the Chinese government's human rights violations. This included a human rights coalition of 180 organizations that urged President Joe Biden in February to boycott the international event.
This was followed by Open Doors USA, an international persecution watchdog, that urged American Christians and athletes to boycott the said Olympics in lieu of China's persecution of minorities that included religious groups. This call was recently reinforced by Voice of the Martyrs.
The highly criticized event, tagged as "Genocide Olympics," was given the option to relocate in Canada as early as February last year but the International Olympics Committee persisted to push through with its hosting in China, especially after the Communist giant threatened to punish countries who will boycott the event.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, iFlytek has likewise received international criticism from human rights organization due to its partnership with the Chinese Communist party in the surveillance of the Uyghurs. Human Rights Watch pointed out that the software company may exploit data it will accumulate in line with the Olympics with the same fashion.
"The Chinese government has been collecting the voice patterns of tens of thousands of people with little transparency about the program or laws regulating who can be targeted or how that information is going to be used. Authorities can easily misuse that data in a country with a long history of unchecked surveillance and retaliation against critics," Human Rights Watch said.
