[Global Times reporter Li Sikun, Xing Xiaojing, Li Meng Gao Lei] "While spreading rumors to boycott Xinjiang cotton, while wanting to make money in China? Wishful thinking!" On the 24th, a statement published by Swedish clothing brand H&M on its official website was widely published on Weibo. Spread, arousing the anger of Chinese netizens.
The “H&M Group’s Statement on Due Diligence in Xinjiang” stated that H&M Group is “deeply concerned” about reports from civil society organizations and media reports, including the “forced labor” and “religious work” of ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. "Discrimination" allegations.
The statement stated that H&M does not cooperate with any garment manufacturing factory located in Xinjiang, nor does it purchase products/raw materials from the region.
In the face of the anger of Chinese netizens, H&M Group's Swedish headquarters stated on the 24th that “it cannot respond on the phone and will reply after checking the email”.
The "H&M China" Weibo account issued a statement on the evening of the 24th, stating that the H&M Group has always managed our global supply chain in accordance with the principles of openness and transparency, and does not represent any political stance.
"Global Times" reporter noted that the above-mentioned statement that caused public outrage was published in October 2020.
H&M stated in the statement that Xinjiang is the largest cotton growing area in China. So far, our suppliers have sourced cotton from farms related to the Swiss Better Cotton Development Association (BCI) in this area.
“As it becomes more and more difficult to conduct credible due diligence in the region, BCI has decided to suspend the issuance of BCI cotton licenses in Xinjiang. This means that the cotton needed for our products will no longer be obtained from there.”
It can be seen from H&M's statement that H&M made the decision to "stop Xinjiang cotton" based on BCI's judgment and some so-called private reports and media reports.
A "Global Times" reporter found after consulting the information on the 24th that BCI's full name is The Better Cotton Initiative, a non-governmental organization established in Switzerland in 2009.
According to the Enterprise Check App, BCI established a representative office in Shanghai in October 2012.
BCI issued an English statement on October 21, 2020, but the network link to this statement is currently unable to open normally.
The reporter saw through a webpage snapshot that the statement declared that “the continuing allegations of forced labor and other human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, as well as the increasing risks of forced labor at the farm level, have made the business environment difficult to maintain.” Therefore, BCI decided "Immediately stop all field activities in the area, including capacity building, data monitoring and reporting."
The statement also stated that in March 2020, BCI suspended its certification and assurance activities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Therefore, no newly certified "Better Cotton" came from this region.
As for why the above judgment was made, BCI did not explain.
It is worth noting that a WeChat public account named BCI Better Cotton, certified as the "Shanghai Representative Office of the Swiss Better Cotton Development Association" published an article titled "Important Statement on Xinjiang Issues" on March 1 The exact opposite of the English statement issued in December is that this Chinese “statement” clearly stated that the BCI China project team strictly abides by the BCI audit principles and has carried out second-party credibility audits and audits of the Xinjiang project site since 2012. Third-party verification, "never found a case of forced labor."
The two sets of rhetoric published in different languages inevitably make people think that BCI is just fooling people.
In fact, in the past two years, there are still many foreign companies that have made statements about "cutting" Xinjiang cotton.
Including BCI members Burberry, Adidas, Nike, New Balance, etc.
And H&M even announced in September last year that it would terminate its "indirect business dealings" with Chinese spinning industry giant Huafu Company, on the grounds that the factory was suspected of hiring "forced labor" of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
Kyodo News reported in February this year that 12 Japanese companies including Uniqlo and MUJI intend to suspend transactions with "Chinese companies that have been confirmed to participate in forced labor in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China."
A "Global Times" reporter interviewed Uniqlo, MUJI and Panasonic on this issue on the 24th. As of 24:00 on the 24th, no reply had been received.
The reporter noticed that Uniqlo's official website no longer sells Xinjiang cotton-related products, but there are still a large number of Xinjiang cotton products on the MUJI official website.
On the 24th, topics such as "H&M Boycott Xinjiang Products" and "H&M Touch Porcelain Xinjiang Cotton" continued to be fermented on Weibo. Netizens said, "I hope these companies that distort facts and want to make Chinese money will do their own thing." "Xinjiang cotton will not be eaten." This set".
Since then, Taobao, JD, Pinduoduo and other e-commerce platforms have removed H&M related products.
The H&M Mall App was removed from the mobile app stores of Xiaomi, Huawei, vivo, and Tencent.
Artists Huang Xuan and Song Qian who have had business cooperation with H&M successively issued statements stating that they no longer have a cooperative relationship with H&M.
H&M China issued a statement on Weibo on the evening of the 24th, stating that H&M Group respects Chinese consumers as always. We are committed to long-term investment and development in China. Currently, we are cooperating with more than 350 manufacturers in China to provide Chinese and global consumers with Apparel products that comply with the principles of sustainable development.
But this long overdue statement obviously cannot make netizens buy it. Some netizens said: "A simple translation for everyone is: I did nothing wrong."
Some netizens discovered on the 24th that Anta, a well-known Chinese sports shoe brand, is also a member of BCI.
Anta issued a statement on the evening of the 24th stating that it had noticed the statement issued by the BCI recently and was seriously concerned about this matter. We are initiating relevant procedures to withdraw from the organization.
The statement also stated that Anta has been purchasing and using cotton produced in China's cotton-producing areas, including Xinjiang cotton, and will continue to purchase and use Chinese cotton in the future.
In the past two years, the hype by American and Western politicians on China's Xinjiang-related issues has not stopped.
"Forced labor" has become a common excuse for some anti-China forces in the United States and the West to attack China's Xinjiang affairs.
A reporter from the Global Times inquired about a large amount of public information and found that foreign brands' concentrated expressions on Xinjiang, China, are basically the same as the de-radicalization and vocational training initiated by Western anti-China forces led by the United States in Xinjiang between 2018 and 2020. Related to the rounds of "smearing" operations.
For example, the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy respectively concocted two reports that distort China’s Xinjiang policy in October 2019 and March 2020, and focused on the use of cotton. The industrial chain of foreign well-known brands within Xinjiang products and labor.
Among them, the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy also listed a so-called list of 83 foreign and Chinese apparel companies using Xinjiang products and labor.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Xinjiang government have repeatedly refuted the smearing of anti-China forces, emphasizing that the so-called "forced labor" issue is completely fabricated out of thin air by some US and Western institutions and personnel, which seriously violates the facts.
The United States and the West use this as an excuse to impose restrictive measures on relevant Chinese companies, violate international trade rules, and disrupt global industrial chains, supply chains, and value chains. This is a naked bullying behavior. China firmly opposes this.
"Global Times" reporters previously interviewed many companies "named" by Western media and think tanks. They all stated that employees from Xinjiang are voluntary and legal workers and enjoy social security and other benefits. The transfer of employment to the inland has become an important channel for the people in Xinjiang to get rid of poverty and become rich.