In the wake of the sanctions imposed on the Communist Party of China by European and American countries over human rights in Xinjiang, the Communist Party’s official media rehashed statements by major Western fashion brands refusing to use Xinjiang cotton, and led the entire population to boycott them. While the public opinion war escalated, Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, suggested that the official media should “watch the fire from the other side of the river”.
After Swedish apparel maker H&M, Nike, the international sporting goods giant that last year said it would not use Xinjiang cotton, has become the next target. Under the pressure of the Chinese Communist Party‘s public opinion, a number of mainland artists have issued statements terminating their cooperation with H&M, Nike and other brand owners.
On March 25, Hu Xijin posted on Weibo, “Nike stormed to the top of the hot search Wednesday night when its statement last July drawing the line with Xinjiang cotton and asking its suppliers to draw the same line was picked up.” He argues that Western companies are going to take the fall for China when the Sino-Western ideological conflict is seriously intensifying.
In addition, after the official campaign against European and American companies reached its climax, Hu Xijin suggested that these official bodies “watch the fire from the other side of the river.
According to Hu, “I personally recommend that Chinese official agencies, including social media accounts with explicit official agency labels, generally refrain from participating or refrain from participating in the denunciation of the Western companies in question, and especially from being the leaders of public opinion denunciations.”
He said, “These (official) accounts would be able to make those public opinions more original and reflective of private attitudes if they kept a certain distance from the Chinese Internet public opinion on those Western companies.”
Hu Xijin’s comments were met with sarcasm by mainland netizens. (Web screenshot)
Recently, the United States, the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party for violating the human rights of Uighurs in Xinjiang, causing Beijing to initiate “counter-sanctions”. In addition to the announced sanctions against some individuals and entities in Europe, some Western companies doing business in China may become “fish on the chopping block”.
On the morning of March 24, the Communist Party’s “Communist Youth League Central Committee” posted on Weibo a statement from H&M Group last October about its refusal to use Xinjiang cotton. Subsequently, CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Daily and other major official media attacked H&M with full force and encouraged a national boycott.
Official media attacked H&M with full force and encouraged a boycott. (Web screenshot)
H&M issued a statement on its website in China on the evening of the 24th, stating that the company ensures that its global suppliers adhere to sustainability commitments such as the OECD Code of Responsible Business Practices and that it “does not represent any political position”.
However, the statement still has not let the incident cool down, Taobao, Jingdong, Tmall, Jindo, Vipshop, Suning Tesco and other major e-commerce have shelved H&M, cell phone business Vivo also shelved H&M App. the morning of March 25, Gaode map, Baidu map and other map App can no longer search the location of H&M stores.
It is reported that H&M is the “Good Cotton Development Association” (Better Cotton Initiative, BCI) members, Nike (Nike), Adidas (Adidas), ZARA, Indigo, IKEA, etc., about more than 200 international brands are BCI members. These brands have also been sniped by the Chinese Communist Party’s fifty cents and pinkies one after another.
BCI is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, a non-profit international membership organization, is currently the world’s largest cotton sustainability program, BCI said the project has now provided sustainable farming for 2.3 million cotton farmers in 23 countries.
According to an official BCI statement, the use of Xinjiang cotton will be discontinued as of October 2020, citing forced labor and human rights violations in the region.
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