China slaps sanctions on Britons and H&M
CHINA has announced sanctions on British officials and also targeted Swedish clothing retailer H&M in a spiralling dispute over complaints of abuses in the Xinjiang region.
The Chinese foreign ministry said a sanctions regime imposed earlier this week by the EU, the US, Britain and Canada was based on “nothing but lies and disinformation, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs, and severely undermines China-UK relations”.
Beijing sanctioned four British institutions and nine individuals, including prominent politicians who have criticised the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority. It said they would be barred from visiting Chinese territory and banned from financial transactions with Chinese citizens and institutions. “China does not stir up trouble, but China is not afraid when others do,” Yang Xiaoguang, China’s charge d’affaires in London, said.
H&M products have been removed from e-commerce platforms Alibaba and JD.com following calls by state media for a boycott
over the firm’s decision to stop buying cotton from Xinjiang. Shockwaves spread to other brands as dozens of celebrities called off endorsement deals with Nike, adidas, Burberry, Uniqlo and Lacoste after state media criticised the brands for expressing concern about Xinjiang. Tencent, which operates games and the popular WeChat message service, announced it was removing Burberry-designed costumes from a mobile phone game.
H&M’s 500 stores in China did not show up on ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing or map services operated by Alibaba and Baidu.
It was not clear whether companies received orders to erase H&M’s online presence, but Chinese enterprises are expected to fall in line without being told. Regulators have broad powers to punish companies that fail to support official policy.
The ruling Communist Party’s Youth League launched attacks on Wednesday on H&M following the EU’s decision to join the US, Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Chinese officials blamed for abuses in Xinjiang.