OpinionXinjiang cotton: Western companies in China are between a rock and a hard place

Name: Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton
Uploaded: 2021-04-15T17:30:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 38 s
Description: Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton

Multinationals must find a balance between complying with their home country’s legal and ethical requirements and continuing to operate and expand in China

Amid escalating China-US tensions, they might need to consider divesting their China operations or decoupling them from the rest of the world

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An H&M store in Beijing. China is one of the company’s main cotton suppliers. Photo: Reuters

Jingzhou Tao

Published: 1:30am, 16 Apr 2021Updated: 2:12am, 16 Apr 2021

H&M, Adidas and Nike have been among the latest victims of tensions between China and the West in recent weeks, following the companies’ statements that they do not source cotton produced in Xinjiang due to concerns about reports of forced labour in the region.

Several Chinese movie stars and high-profile models quickly announced the termination of their endorsement contracts with such companies, and e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com took their products off the shelves.

Chinese social media was awash with nationalist posturing and calls for boycotts, and an official spokesman said: “The Chinese people do not allow some foreign companies to eat Chinese food and smash Chinese bowls.”

In fact, some of the statements of those Western brands were made last year to address concerns in their domestic markets; the Trump administration banned all imports of cotton from Xinjiang early this year.

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Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton

Last week, an alliance of NGOs announced that it had filed a complaint in France against four clothing multinationals including Skechers and Inditex, the owner of Zara. The NGOs accused the companies of profiting from the forced labour imposed on the Muslim minority in Xinjiang, and said the complaint was merely the first in a series to be deployed in the coming months in European countries.