A report shows that several members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have successful business connections with China. When talking about the IOC’s policies, they have downplayed China’s human rights issue.
John Coates has been Vice President of the IOC (2013 to 2017 and 2020 to the present) and the President of Australian Olympic Committee: The Daily Beast conducted an investigation that showed that Mr. Coates has been the Chairman of William Inglis & Son Ltd, Australia’s largest and oldest bloodstock auctioneer. In its auction last year, a Chinese buyer bought horses worth over $13 million. In 2019, the auctioneer sold the horses worth $3.5 million to a “secret” China horse club . The company also sponsored “Inglis Sino-Australia Cup” Equestrian Competition in Shanxi Province, China, which the representative of its Chinese office said is the highest-prized competition that Inglis sponsored outside Australia.
Mr. Coates said the IOC pays attention to human right, but pressuring Beijing on the Xinjiang issue is not within the power of the IOC. He said the IOC should respect the hosting country’s sovereignty.
Dick Pound is a member of the IOC and former Vice President of the IOC. Mr. Pound is an advisor to Stikeman Elliott LLP, a Canadian law firm. The company has long history of experiences in China. Its website claims that it has provided legal services to many big Chinese enterprises, and listed several of them including, for example, China National Petroleum Corporation, CITIC Group, China Investment Corporation, along with may others.
Mr. Pound said human rights issues are political when answering Xinjiang forced labor camp and genocide question. He suggested (with hope) that an independent investigation on what is happening in Xinjiang would be helpful and maybe the Chinese are preparing to consider it.
Sebastian Coe, is a British member of the IOC. Mr. Coe is a Non-Executive Board Director of the Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) and receives $130,000 as annual pay. Out of FMG’s several billion dollars in revenue in 2020, ninety percent came from China. A Chinese state-run company is a major shareholder of FMG.
Mr. Coe said last year that an international political boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics had no meaning but would only cause damage.
Source: Epoch Times, February 5, 2022
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/2/5/n13557473.htm