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Image source,FAKE IMAGES
Last week, H&M, Nike, Adidas and other multinational apparel companies encountered resistance from consumers in China over their remarks against Xinjiang cotton.
Chinese officials have recently made frequent and high-profile voices on the Xinjiang issue. Inside China, Xinjiang officials warned at a press conference on Xinjiang-related issues on Monday that China will no longer be “affected by Western hegemony” as it was in 1840. Abroad, the words and deeds of many diplomats Chinese seem to have become more radical.
On March 29, Xu Guixiang, spokesman for the Xinjiang Autonomous Region People’s Government, responded to the recent boycott of the H&M clothing brand in Beijing. He said it is not easy to mess with the Chinese people and that H&M “should not politicize economic behavior.”
Last week, H&M, Nike, Adidas and other multinational apparel companies encountered consumer resistance in China over their remarks against Xinjiang cotton.
Xu Guixiang made the above statement at a press conference jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on Monday. According to China Central Television, representatives of Xinjiang cotton spinning workers, representatives of Xinjiang education and training graduates, religious figures, and representatives of Xinjiang education and women’s circles attended the press conference.
“When Western sanctions are applied to Xinjiang, they will also affect themselves,” the participants said according to China’s CCTV report.
At the same time, in response to suspected human rights abuse in Xinjiang, the United States and many other Western countries have recently increased their pressure on China, and Chinese diplomats abroad have also stepped up their response.
Resists the aftermath
Last week, Chinese netizens criticized H&M, a well-known Swedish clothing retail brand, for an old statement about Xinjiang cotton. Subsequently, international clothing brands such as Burberry, Nike and Adidas became embroiled in disputes and many Chinese artists announced the termination of cooperation with these brands.
H&M Group issued a “due diligence” statement on cotton in Xinjiang, China, in March last year, saying it expressed concern about reports of forced labor and religious discrimination among ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. This statement from last week suddenly drew strong criticism from Chinese state media and social media, accusing the brand of spreading rumors and discrediting China.
Investigation Exposes Uighur Forced Labor Behind China’s Cotton Industry
Xu Guixiang said on Monday that H&M can operate normally in China and should not politicize economic behavior.
He said that some Western forces and organizations sanctioned Xinjiang before, nothing more than thinking that there was forced labor in the Xinjiang cotton textile industry, but the whole process of producing, planting and selling cotton in Xinjiang complies with the laws and rules of Chinese market, and the relevant sanctions and suppression are unreasonable.
He referred to H&M as “blindly following the trend”, believing that some “pseudo-academics and the media distorted the reports”, and said that H&M “participated as an accomplice.”
Xu Guixiang pointed out that “China is no longer the China of 1840 and no longer suffers from the hegemony of the Western powers.”
“It is not easy to mess with the Chinese people,” he said. At the same time, he asked, “Can (H&M) survive in the Chinese market? Can you still make money from the Chinese? You can’t make a penny.”
Image source,EPA
Mutual sanctions
Last week, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and the United States, respectively, stated that they had imposed sanctions on different Chinese officials and institutions because they believed that Xinjiang had violated human rights. The US government has publicly accused Beijing of genocide the Muslim Uighur community in Xinjiang.
China also responded with sanctions on the institutions and personnel of these countries, prompting EU member states such as France, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy to summon Chinese ambassadors to protest.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that the actions of these governments in summoning Chinese ambassadors were “unreasonable” and were “a manifestation of double standards, harassment, dominance and hypocrisy.
Many prominent Chinese diplomats abroad have also taken steps to show their tough stances. Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, voluntarily postponed the call from the French Foreign Ministry for one day due to a scheduling conflict. Before this, the official Twitter account of the Chinese Embassy in France called a French academic a “little hooligan” on March 19, causing a stir in French public opinion.
On March 28, Li Yang, the Chinese consul general in Rio de Janeiro, attacked Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau on Twitter. He posted a photo of Trudeau on Twitter and said that Trudeau’s “greatest achievement is destroying the friendship between China and Canada and turning Canada into a running dog of the United States.” He also called Trudeau the “prodigal son”.
Trudeau previously stated that China’s sanctions have attacked Canada’s democratic values and that the Canadian government will continue to work with the international community to defend human rights.
H&M and other international brands have been boycotted in China, and some citizens called them “a hole in the brain.”
Visit Xinjiang
At the same time, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated on March 28 that the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bachelet, was conducting “serious consultations” with the Chinese government. on visiting Xinjiang.
In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Guterres said that he hoped that negotiations between the two parties could reach an agreement soon.
He said that China has repeatedly expressed to him that it hopes that the UN mission’s visit to China can take place, and for the UN, the important thing is that the mission’s visit “can be carried out without restrictions as High Commissioner for Human Rights Wishes ”.
Bachelet said last month that reports of arbitrary detentions, abuse, sexual violence and forced labor of Uighurs in Xinjiang “need a thorough and independent evaluation.”
Enter China’s “thought transformation field”
At the Xinjiang press conference on Monday, some foreign journalists asked questions about restricted access in Xinjiang. Xu Guixiang said that foreign news agencies and journalists in China must comply with China’s relevant information requirements. Journalists can contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Xinjiang Propaganda Department, or visit Xinjiang on their own. The authorities “will not block or interfere, and will allow reporters to conduct interviews freely.”
