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Sep 12 (Reuters) – A group of bipartisan US lawmakers urged Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Chapek to explain the company’s connection to “security and propaganda” authorities in China’s Xinjiang region during the production of the epic royal war “Mulan”.
Disney’s $ 200 million live-action remake of its animated classic about a warrior in ancient China has been the subject of controversy for being filmed in part in the Xinjiang region, where China’s crackdown on ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims has been criticized by some governments, including the United States. States and human rights groups.
“Disney’s apparent cooperation with officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) who are primarily responsible for committing atrocities, or covering up those crimes, is deeply disturbing,” Republican senators and representatives wrote in Friday’s letter.
He urged Disney to make a detailed explanation.
The letter was retweeted by the Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC), which oversees human rights and the rule of law and submits an annual report to President Donald Trump and Congress.
Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lawmakers, including former presidential candidate Marco Rubio, a Republican senator who co-chairs the CECC, said information about Beijing’s role in detaining Uighurs in Xinjiang was in all the media prior to the filming of “Mulan.”
“The decision to film parts of Mulan in cooperation with local security and propaganda elements offers tacit legitimacy to the perpetrators of crimes that may justify the designation of genocide.”
China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly denied the existence of re-education camps in the region, labeling the facilities as vocational and educational institutions and accusing what it calls anti-China forces of smearing its Xinjiang policy.
Lawmakers also asked Disney about the use of local, Uighur, or other ethnic minority labor, “as well as the due diligence conducted to ensure that forced labor was not used during the production of the film.”
The film, available on Disney’s streaming service in many markets, opened in China on Friday and earned 46 million yuan ($ 6.7 million) at the box office at 8 p.m. (1200 GMT).
The Trump administration said this week it has prepared orders to block imports of cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang over forced labor allegations. (Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Edited by William Mallard)
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