China attacks foreign Clothing, footwear brands over Xinjiang

BEIJING—CHINA’S ruling Communist Party is lashing out at H&M and other clothing and footwear brands as it retaliates for Western sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

The attacks began when the party’s Youth League on Wednesday called attention on its social media account to an H&M statement in March 2020 that it would stop buying cotton from Xinjiang in China’s northwest. The Swedish retailer, in words also used by some other brands, said it was“deeply concerned” about reports of forced labor there.

On Thursday, a party newspaper, the Global Times, cited Burberry, Adidas, Nike and New Balance as having made “cutting remarks” about Xinjiang cotton as early as two years ago. A separate Globaltimes report cited what it said was a statement by Zara that it had a “zero-tolerance approach towards forced labor.”

Celebrities including Wang Yibo, a popular singer and actor, announced they were breaking endorsement contracts with H&M and Nike.

Beijing often attacks foreign clothing, auto, travel and other brands for actions by their governments or to pressure companies to conform to its official positions on Taiwan, Tibet and other sensitive issues.

Companies usually apologize and change websites or advertising to maintain access to China’s populous market. But Xinjiang is an unusually thorny issue. Western brands face pressure at home to distance themselves from possible abuses.

More than 1 million people in Xinjiang, most of them from predominantly Muslim ethnic groups, have been confined to work camps, according to foreign researchers and governments. Beijing denies mistreating them and says it is trying to promote economic development and stamp out radicalism.