China hits out at Norway state fund over Xinjiang forced-labour fears

Oslo’s sovereign wealth fund said it would sell its stake in a company implicated in the use of forced labour in the far-western region

The foreign ministry in Beijing said the accusations are a ‘huge lie’ and warned Norway it may suffer ‘unnecessary losses’ as a consequence

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China has been accused of extensive human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:26pm, 9 Mar 2022

China on Wednesday blasted a decision by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to sell off its stake in a Chinese company due to rights concerns, warning the move may cause “unnecessary losses” for Oslo.

The Norwegian central bank said Monday it would divest from sports brand Li-Ning “due to unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious human rights violations”, after its ethics council linked the company with forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region.

Beijing stands accused of having detained more than a million Uygurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in political reeducation camps across Xinjiang and exploiting them for forced labour.

Human rights groups say they have found evidence of torture and forced sterilisation in the region, and countries including the United States, France and Canada have labelled the situation a “genocide”.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday called the accusations a “huge lie concocted by anti-China forces”.

He urged “relevant parties ... not to be deceived by lies, so as to avoid unnecessary losses to their own interests”.