On Monday, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg urging him to reconsider his decision to host the New Economy Forum in Communist China. While he shut the door to a presidential bid earlier this year, there are reports that Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg L.P., is reconsidering that decision.
Scott wrote Bloomberg as follows:
I write today to encourage you to consider the grave implications of hosting the New Economy Forum in Communist China, and the message it sends to those fighting for human rights in China and for freedom in Hong Kong and around the world.
Communist China, led by President Xi, is violating human rights. They are stealing our intellectual property and technology, and refuse to open their markets to foreign goods as required by their agreement to be part of the WTO. They are militarizing the South China Sea, even after they promised President Obama they would not. They continue to attack religious freedom by detaining more than one million Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority group, in internment and re-education camps, and have not lived up to the agreement to give Hong Kong autonomy and freedom.
I recently traveled to Hong Kong and met with many courageous individuals fighting for the basic freedoms that Communist China promised during the handover in 1997. As the people of Hong Kong continue to fight for democracy, the Communist regime in China has turned Hong Kong into a police state as a way to force its residents into compliance with Beijing’s oppressive laws.
Hosting the New Economy Forum in Beijing signals your support for the policies of Communist China, a regime that refuses to live up to its promises. How can you claim to stand for freedom while choosing to support a nation that continues to suppress basic human rights?
Companies around the world need to stop doing business with Communist China. High profile leaders like yourself need to stop supporting Communist China. There are countless locations in freedom-loving countries around the world that would be more suitable to host the New Economy Forum. I urge you to immediately reconsider your decision to support President Xi, and pull the New Economy Forum from Beijing.
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