The Chinese foreign ministry has dismissed accusations made by clothing giants Nike and H&M that Xinjiang cotton is harvested using forced labor, and hit back at the US by highlighting its historical use of slave labor.
Speaking on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she would pay no attention to statements made by Nike and H&M concerning forced labor in Xinjiang, and labeled the accusations “rumor and slander.”
"These lies were first instigated by a few so-called scholars and the media, and then some anti-China forces followed up with the hype. This incident itself is extremely wrong, spreading rumors and slandering China."
Hua said Beijing was open-minded and happy to welcome foreign companies to operate in China, but would not put up with malicious attacks by firms that were based on rumors and lies.
The Chinese market is here. We don’t need to engage in special coercion, but one thing is certain: nowadays, Chinese people do not allow foreigners to eat Chinese food while smashing Chinese bowls.
Turning her attention to the US, Hua stated that the accusations of forced labor were misplaced. The spokeswoman produced two photos, one of which was black-and-white and showed a historical scene of black slaves being forced to pick cotton by hand, and another, which was in colour, that showed a field being ploughed by a combine harvester recently in Xinjiang. She claimed that 40% of Xinjiang’s cotton fields have been mechanized....rt
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