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The perils of sponsorship

Premier League clubs are keen to boost their commercial income by attracting new sponsors, not least from the lucrative and still under exploited Asian market. However, they can get themselves in hot water by doing so as Liverpool FC have found.

In July they thought they had found an environmentally friendly winner when they signed up a company that produces mineral water at a Tibetan glacier. The Hong Kong-listed Tibet Water Company became the club's 'official water partner' in China in July. In return the company was promised digital media rights and access to players.

However, the Free Tibet Group has started a campaign against Liverpool's partnership, arguing that by working with the company the club was in effect condoning human rights abuses stemming from China's occupation of Tibet in 1950: Campaign

Beijing considers that Tibet is an inseparable part of China, although it operates as an autonomous region. The Chinese Government says that it faces a dangerous separatist movement. China's position on Tibet as summarised by the BBC can be found here: China's perspective

The campaign manager for Free Tibet, John Jones, said there was no suggestion that Tibet Water was directly involved in human rights abuses, but claimed that the company was benefiting from China's occupation of the region. He told the Financial Times that he had raised his concerns privately with the club, but had received no response.

Tibet Water has been a high profile sponsor of entertainment and sports in China as well as winning contracts to be the official provider of bottled water to high-level Communist Party meetings. The mineral water is taken from a glacial spring in the Nyenchen Tangla mountains in Tibet and bottled at facilities close by.

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