WASHINGTON -- Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai`i, has joined other House members to push for a hearing and a vote on a resolution calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics unless China ends its human rights abuses and stops supporting other repressive governments.

Abercrombie and six other supporters signed a letter that was sent today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asking her to hold a hearing on the nonbinding resolution and bring it to a vote on the House floor. The Olympics are scheduled for August in Beijing.

"We are deeply concerned about the grave threat the people of Tibet face from the brutal and unwarranted crackdown by the Beijing regime," the lawmakers wrote. "We should not permit the totalitarian government in China to use the Olympics to cover its own evil as did Adolf Hitler in 1936."

The nonbinding resolution, co-sponsored by 14 House members including Abercrombie, says the United States has a duty and responsibility to stop the Chinese regime's human rights abuses against its citizens and its support of governments in Sudan, Burma and North Korea that abuse their citizens.

"We cannot stand silently by and watch as another wave of brutality and oppression sweeps across the country by the Beijing regime," the letter said. "We should not send our athletes and officials to China as though the current crackdown on the Tibetan, Chinese and Uygur people mean nothing."

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.