“Regrettable and shameful”: U.S. lawmakers explode Coca-Cola, Visa and others at the Beijing Olympics

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) – A bilateral congressional panel on Tuesday in 2022 blew up U.S. sponsors of the Beijing Winter Olympics, including Coca-Cola, Visa Inc. and Airbnb, accusing them of setting profits before accusations of Chinese genocide.

Republican congressman Chris Smith told the congressional congressional executive committee that sponsors had to reconcile their “apparent commitment to human rights” by supporting the Olympics, where the host country “actively commits human rights violations.”

Smith asked each of the executives at the session – Airbnb (ABNB.O), Coke (KO.N), Intel (INTC.O), Visa Inc. (VN) and Procter & Gamble (PG.N) – Do games have to be postponed or postponed due to concerns about human rights violations? All of them declined the statement or said they have no responsibility for the choice of site.

“We do not make decisions about these host locations. We support and monitor athletes wherever they compete,” said Paul Lalli, Coca-Cola’s global director of human rights.

When asked about the U.S. government’s determination for China to commit genocide against Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups, only Steve Rodgers, Intel’s vice president and general counsel, said he believed it.

“I have read the State Department report. I have researched it and I believe its conclusions,” Rodgers said, praising Republican Senator Tom Cotton for his “direct response.”

Other leaders said they would respect the U.S. government’s conclusions, but would not press for it.

The executives represent five U.S. companies with sponsorship commitments to the Beijing Games under the official Olympic Partner (TOP) program.

Judicial groups, scholars, former residents, and some Western lawmakers and officials say the Chinese authorities have facilitated forced labor by keeping about one million Uighurs and other primarily Muslim minorities in camps since 2016.

The administration of President Joe Biden agreed with the determination of the former Trump administration that the detention camps and other abuses constituted genocide.

China denies the abuses, saying it has set up vocational training centers to combat extremism. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to the request for comment sent by email.

“It is clear that each of you, with the exception of Mr Rodgers, was sent here with orders not to say anything that could offend the Chinese Communist Party,” Cotton said, calling the testimony at the hearing “pathetic and shameful.”

Democrat Tom Malinowski rebuked David Holyoke, director of the Airbnb Olympics and Paralympic Partnership, for not being more outspoken in his criticism of the Chinese government for preventing Uighurs and Tibetans from obtaining passports and identity cards that would allow them to travel to hotels.

“In China, we must comply with local laws and regulations,” Holyoke said, adding that “human rights are at the core of our values.”

“You’re just completely relieving yourself of your responsibility for being involved in discriminatory discrimination,” Malinowski said.

Malinowski repeatedly asked whether Coca-Cola explicitly condemns all abuses by the Chinese government to the Uighurs, Lalli said without mentioning China: “We respect all human rights.”

Malinowski noted that Coca-Cola was willing to wade into U.S. policy and condemn restrictions on voting rights in its home state of Georgia, but did not criticize the Chinese government. Read more

“You are afraid of them in a way that you are not afraid of critics in the US. I think it is a disgrace,” Malinowski told Lall, adding that it was “absolutely clear” that the company refused to criticize Beijing for fear that it would harm its profits in China.

Michael Martina reports; surgery by Richard Pullin

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.