Former Vice President Mike Pence launched an attack on corporate America for preaching social justice at home while profiting from 'slavery' abroad, accusing companies such as Nike of cozying up to the communist regime in China.
Speaking to a conservative audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Wednesday, he warned that China sensed weakness in the Biden administration.
And he demanded that President Biden join calls for the 2022 Winter Olympics to moved from Beijing over its human rights record and obstruction in getting to the truth behind the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he reserved particular anger for what he described as the double standards of American companies.
'Beijing has exploited modern corporate America's insatiable demand for market access and coerced top CEOs, athletes and entertainers in not only withholding criticism from the communist regime but in many cases actively singing their praises,' he said.
'American business leaders preach such social justice at home while they profit from slavery abroad.
'They boast of their commitment to the environment while their facilities in China blacken the skies and choke our oceans with plastic.
'They criticize America's Founding Fathers while lauding a regime that murdered millions of its own citizens during the Great Leap Forward.'
Former Vice President delivered a foreign policy speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington on Wednesday. He urged President Biden to take tougher action on China but reserved particular scorn for corporate America. 'Beijing has exploited modern corporate America's insatiable demand for market access and coerced top CEOs, athletes and entertainers in a not only withholding criticism from the communist regime but in many cases actively singing their praises,' he said
He urged President Biden to add his voice to calls for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be moved from Beijing in protest at the treatment of Uyghur Muslims and continuing questions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic
Pence has been working his way back on to the public stage amid jockeying for position as runners line up for the contest to win the 2024 Republican nomination
Human rights groups and Western nations led by the United States, Britain and Germany have frequently accused China of massive crimes against the Uyghur minority and demanded unimpeded access for U.N. experts. This file picture shows Number 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
He singled out Nike, whose chief executive John Donohoe said on a recent earnings call: 'We are the
