US watchdog warns over athletes' safety at China Olympics after host threatened "punishment" for anti-Beijing comments

A US rights monitor has warned over athletes' safety at the upcoming Winter Olympics Games after the host threatened "punishment" for anti-Beijing comments, according to a media report.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a group of Washington lawmakers and White House officials have asked US Olympics authorities for an "urgent effort" to protect their athlete's free speech rights at the event, Bangkok Post reported on Tuesday.

Last month a member of China's Olympics organizing committee warned that foreign athletes may face punishment for speech that violates Chinese law at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, spotlighting concerns about the country's restrictions on political expression.

In broad strokes, China's stance falls in line with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) established rule against political protest at the Games. The IOC also announced before last year's Summer Games in Tokyo that athletes who staged protests there would be punished, ignoring US calls to allow respectful protest for human rights issues, according to Washington Post.

Earlier, Yang Shu, deputy director-general of international relations for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said in a news conference on Tuesday that "any expression that is in line with the Olympic spirit I'm sure will be protected."

The commission spoke out after Yang Shu, a senior official in the Beijing Games organising committee, told an online briefing on January 18 that "any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit, especially against the Chinese laws and regulations, are also subject to certain punishment."

In China, critics of the government have routinely been sentenced to prison for staging political protests, or for comments they made on social media. While it's unlikely Beijing would risk international ire to severely punish an athlete at the Olympics for speech, Yang Shu had declined to answer what the maximum punishment could be for political demonstration at the Games.

China's human rights record has come under heavy scrutiny ahead of the Winter Olympics, with US and several other countries announcing a diplomatic boycott of the event as a statement against China's "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, reported Washington Post.

( With inputs from ANI )