A larger number of Chinese celebrities expressed support on Thursday for
a nationalistic backlash against foreign-owned consumer goods brands
that have expressed concern over the human rights situation in China’s
Xinjiang Province. At least 40 Chinese stars canceled high-profile,
lucrative sponsorship contracts.To get more
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Among them were Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee, the stars of the best
foreign picture Oscar nominee “Better Days,” “Mulan” star Liu Yifei, and
the actor Song Dandan, the stepmother of “Nomadland” director, the
Chinese-born Academy Award frontrunner Chloe Zhao.
The controversy has plunged China’s entertainment industry squarely into
the firestorm over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Beijing
denies there is abuse, but U.S. officials and leading figures in other
democracies have recently described activities in Xinjiang as a
“genocide.”The furor highlights the real and escalating difficulties
that companies and artists must face when attempting to straddle the
divide between the political requirements of accessing China’s enormous
market and the humanitarian expectations of the public and media in
other jurisdictions.
The jingoistic firestorm broke out Wednesday, just days after the U.S.,
the E.U., Britain and Canada announced a rare set of coordinated
sanctions against Chinese officials over their policies in Xinjiang.
Beijing retaliated by imposing even harsher sanctions on the E.U. in
return. It added sanctions against U.K. officials on Thursday.
Weibo users dug up an old, since-deleted 2020 statement from H&M in
which the Swedish retailer stated that it was “deeply concerned” by
reports of forced labor and discrimination against ethnoreligious
minorities in Xinjiang. It was working to “reduce exposure” there due to
the “risk of labor rights abuses… until conditions for credible due
diligence are in place,” according to a cached version.
Following Weibo users’ nationalistic criticisms, China’s propaganda
apparatus and other official state organs fanned the flames by calling
for a boycott.
“On the one hand you spread rumors and boycott Xinjiang cotton, and on
the other want to make money in China? Wishful thinking!” the Communist
Youth League’s social media account posted, as hashtags and search terms
related to the issue began racking up billions of views, dominating the
Weibo trending search charts.
Within hours, actor Huang Xuan — who recently appeared in “Wuhai,” which
won the FIPRESCI prize at San Sebastian last year, and the new hit TV
show “Minning Town” — announced that he would terminate all sponsorship
contracts with H&M. He was soon followed by fellow brand ambassador
Victoria Song Qian, the singer-actor who debuted as part of the K-pop
group f(X).
Huang accused H&M of a “human rights smear campaign,” and stated via
his studio that he “resolutely opposes any attempt to discredit the
country and its human rights practices in any form.”By evening, Chinese
web users noticed that H&M had been wiped from Alibaba’s e-commerce
platform and even literally from the map, with its stores unsearchable
on Chinese map apps.
On Thursday, boycott threats had spread to other brands that have
previously said they do not source products or yarn from Xinjiang. Most
are part of the Better Cotton Initiative, an industry group that
promotes sustainable cotton. They include Nike, Adidas, Burberry,
Converse, New Balance, and Phillips-Van Heusen, which runs Tommy
Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, among others, All were labeled as “malicious
backstabbers” by the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily.
“Chinese people do not allow some foreigners to eat Chinese food while
smashing Chinese bowls,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua
Chunying said Thursday, warning foreign companies to follow the
Communist Party’s rules.
Beijing denies that forced labor is occurring in Xinjiang and strictly
censors information about the “re-education camps” there, which the
United Nations has expressed concerned are sites of arbitrary detention,
ill-treatment, and sexual violence.
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