After international brand companies were caught in a wave of domestic boycotts in China for refusing to use Xinjiang cotton, Chinese Communist Party officials once again turned black and white, warning brands such as H&M not to play politics.
As the world’s most socialist and communist-led country, Chinese Communist Party spokespersons are often the “perpetrators” but play the role of “victims,” presenting black as white and white as black and branding themselves as the guardians of freedom and justice. The government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has been trying to protect the freedom and justice of the people.
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region government spokesman Xu Guixiang said at a press conference on Monday (March 29) that there is no forced labor in Xinjiang cotton, and that the U.S. and other Western countries are using this as a reason for “political manipulation” in order to play the “human rights card to mess up Xinjiang and contain China. “.
He also said that H&M and other companies should engage in their own business activities, and should not politicize economic behavior.
In a public statement back on March 24, H&M said the group has consistently managed its global supply chain with openness and transparency, ensuring that suppliers worldwide comply with its sustainability commitments such as the OECD Code of Responsible Business Conduct, and does not represent any political stance.
The foreign brands were inadvertently drawn into the boycott within the Communist Party after they decided not to use cotton from the Xinjiang region due to concerns about serious human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including forced labor and the mass incarceration of Uighurs.
Communist Youth League Pulls H&M Into Boycott Wave
On March 24, the Communist Youth League (CYL), a Chinese Communist Party organization, first criticized H&M’s old statement last year that it had stopped using cotton from Xinjiang on its official Weibo account, saying that H&M was “trying to make money in China while making rumors about boycotting cotton from Xinjiang? I don’t think so!” The statement drew overwhelming support from more than 400,000 Chinese netizens, with boycotts of “get out” and “don’t expect to eat Chinese rice and smash Chinese pots” flooding the Internet.
H&M said in a statement on the same day that its refusal to use Xinjiang cotton did not represent any political position; the People’s Daily Review, a microblogging service of the Communist Party’s official media, said that “Chinese netizens will not buy it,” and stressed that “national interests Chinese netizens will not buy it,” said the People’s Daily Review, a microblogging service of the Communist Party’s official media.
Immediately afterwards, Chinese e-commerce platform Jingdong was the first to take down H&M’s products and stores, prompting other platforms such as Taobao and Tmall to follow suit. The boycott then spread to other brands, and a wave of celebrities from the entertainment industry followed suit, cutting ties with the brands affected.
In the past week, at least 40 Chinese stars have canceled sponsorship contracts and partnerships with lucrative foreign clothing brands, including H&M and Nike.
E-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Jingdong, and even ride-sharing services such as Baidu Maps and Drip Travel have wiped out H&M stores, and even mobile App apps have been taken down from Android app stores.
Press conference textile workers appeared “Home Life is getting better and better”
At Monday’s press conference in Xinjiang, the organizers also invited Uyghur textile workers to appear to talk about their work experience and work conditions.
Alimirhe Tursun, a textile worker from the Aksu region of Xinjiang who works for a textile company in Bole City, said that the company provides quality accommodation and Food, and that after working in Bole City, she sends money to her Family every month and her family’s life is getting better and better.
To offset international attention to the Uighurs in Xinjiang, the Communist government has been promoting various “smiling” propaganda videos or photos of Xinjiang, such as those tweeted by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on overseas social media platforms, of smiling workers in Xinjiang factories, spreading the word that “many of our Many of our habits have been changed and improved”.
After the BBC was granted staged access to several Xinjiang detention camps in 2019, its correspondent John Sudworth wrote: “We were taken to carefully groomed places as satellite images showed that much of the security infrastructure (camps) had recently been torn down. “
He also described the “unchanging smiles” of the detainees in the educational camps, who stated that they had volunteered for “ideological reform” and performed choreographed Music and dances meant to impress journalists. -They had been prisoners “under the influence of extremism” and were now “reborn” in the camp.
Dilishati, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, told Radio Free Asia that he believed the “witnesses” of the weavers at Monday’s press conference were actors forced to play along with the propaganda.
He said, “This is a planned, purposeful, political showcase for external deception, and these so-called witnesses were deliberately arranged by the Chinese government. I am sure that these so-called witnesses, without any pressure, would not have acted as a tool of the Chinese Communist government for foreign propaganda.”
Foreign companies need to choose between human rights and money in Xinjiang forced labor
For decades, most foreign companies operating in China have been careful not to give the impression that they are critical of the Chinese (Communist) government, and have chosen to rest on their laurels even when attacked by the CCP’s growing nationalist cyber-water army.
The boycott comes against the backdrop of relations between the Communist Party and the West hitting their lowest point in decades, after the U.S.-China Alaska talks fell apart and the United States teamed up with the European Union, Britain and Canada to issue sanctions against four Communist Party officials and one entity involved in the crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang.
The New York Times reports that the position of foreign companies in China is likely to become increasingly precarious as Beijing finds ways to counter foreign criticism, and that it is a common practice of the Communist authorities to demonstrate their economic power (intimidation) for political purposes.
Some international human rights organizations say that at least one million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The detainees are allegedly subjected to human rights violations in the camps, including torture, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, political indoctrination, and forced labor.
The existence of forced labor in Xinjiang’s cotton production is one way that Communist authorities are suppressing Uyghurs. The U.S. Congressional and Executive Commission on China (CECC) reported in a study last year that forced labor in the form of “re-Education camps” is widespread in Xinjiang, with cotton, garment fabrics, shoes and other commodities being the most affected areas.
In January, the U.S. also announced a ban on imports of cotton and tomato products from the Xinjiang region because they are allegedly produced by forced labor.
State Department spokeswoman Porter condemned the Chinese Communist government for “leading” the social media campaign. She said the social media campaign and consumer boycott are targeting U.S., European and Japanese companies.
“We appreciate and support compliance with U.S. laws and ensuring that our consumer products are not made through forced labor,” she said. She said.
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