generalspeaking: Xinjiang Denial's Backlash

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Xinjiang Denial's Backlash

"We commend and stand with companies that adhere to the U.S. laws and ensure products we're consuming are not made with forced labour."
"We continue to support and encourage businesses to respect human rights in line with the U.N. guiding principles on business and human rights in the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises."
Deputy U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter

"I wasn't aware of the backlash. I came here to buy a coat for spring because H&M is reasonably priced and fashionable."

"I'll still buy something since I'm already here, but if this backlash lasts for a really long time, I will buy less from this brand."
Wang Yuying, 52-year-old retiree, H&M Shanghai outlet

China Kampagne gegen westliche Mode- und Sportfirmen

Chinese state media called for a boycott of H&M, which said it would stop buying Xinjiang cotton

Chinese social media has launched a government-incited campaign against popular Western brands in China in response to comments fashion brands have made citing labour conditions in Xinjiang. Now Nike Inc. and Adidas AG have experienced attacks for their part in the campaign, involving a diplomatic spat between China and the West; where China is accused of using Uyghurs for forced labour in cotton fields.

The Chinese government has called upon its loyal public to help put a stop to foreign brands labelling China as a persecutor-oppressor against its Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province. Beijing's denials hasn't stopped a number of Western governments from labelling the persecution of the Uyghurs as 'genocide', infuriating the Chinese Communist Party which refers to the 're-education camps' it operates as learning centres.

State media in China singled out H&M, the Swedish fashion retailer. over a comment where it stated it had deep concerns over reports of forced labour in Xinjiang, adding it did not source products from that region of China. As a result, shares of Anta Sports Products Ltd. and Li Ning Co. surged, while shares of Nike fell as did Adidas, and H&M slipped sales as well.

The brands had been enjoying a rapid growth spurt, evidenced by their popularity with consumers in China; all have stated they don't source products or yarn from the Xinjiang region. China continues to strenuously deny accusations of human rights abuses by its officials in the region, home to Muslim Uyghurs, following sanctions imposed on the officials by the European Union, United States, Britain and Canada.

Beijing returned the compliment, sanctioning European lawmakers, scholars andinstitutions.Meanwhile, Chinese internet users have stated their intention to stop buying Nike and will instead support local brands; others instructed Adidas to leave China: "If you boycott Xinjiang cotton, we'll boycott you. Either Adidas quits BCI, or get out of China", wrote one internet user.

Chloe Cranston of Anti-Slavery International, a member of the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uighur Region, stated that "Brands must not rescind on their human rights responsibilities in the face of this pressure", speaking to the dilemma created for Western companies attempting to balance their wish to expand business in China and still support the public views of consumers in their home markets.

Global Times, a state tabloid, published a story that Zara owned by Spain's Inditex had "quietly removed" their Xinjiang comment of its concern about reports describing social and labour malpractice in supply chains among ethnic Uyghurs. It was on public view March 24, but is currently not on view. Chinese internet users targeted the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a group promoting sustainable cotton production which suspended its approval of cotton sourced from Xinjiang in October, citing human rights concerns.

Nike, Adidas, H&M and Japan's Fast Retailing are all members of BCI. On Thursday, the BCI website also stopped working. On Wednesday H&M stated it respected Chinese consumers, it was committed to long-term investment and development in China. Despite which, the next day H&M was absent on some Chinese store locator maps and searches for H&M stores on Baidu Maps yielded no results. Its official store on Alibaba Tmall, a platform for e-commerce, had disappeared.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a daily media briefing responded when asked about H&M by holding up a photograph of Black Americans picking cotton: "This was in the U.S. when Black slaves were forced to pick cotton in the fields". She then held up a second photograph of cotton fields in Xinjiang: "More than 40 percent of the cotton in Xinjiang is harvested by machinery, so the alleged forced labour is non-existent."

Which, needless to say, leaves 60 percent unaccounted for...?