Urumqi: Several industry associations including trade unions, the women’s federation and cotton association in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have issued statements condemning the Western boycott against made-in-Xinjiang cotton by fabricating lies of “forced labor” and smearing the local human rights situation. They said they will never allow the local cotton industry to be “stained” nor locals’ road to a better life to be obstructed.
The Xinjiang federation of trade unions said that anti-China forces led by the US recently made up lies claiming that “China forced hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority laborers in Xinjiang to pick cotton by hand through poverty alleviation projects,” which has fully laid bare their sinister intentions of interfering in China’s internal affairs and undermining security and stability in the region under the guise of human rights, reported the region’s news portal ts.cn. Recent announcements from several foreign textile and garment companies, including H&M, that they would stop using Xinjiang cotton and call for a boycott of the product have angered the Chinese people, Xinjiang’s cotton association said.
The Xinjiang cotton association urged the relevant brands and institutions to stop their wrong behaviors. Such erroneous acts, which ignore the progress and development of human rights in Xinjiang and seriously undermine the legitimate rights and interests of cotton growers and textile and garment workers of all ethnic groups in the region to get paid and improve their living standards through work, are typical “lies of the century.” Their hypocritical behaviors of fake concerns and real interference are disgusting, the association said.
The association said it welcomes overseas enterprises to visit Xinjiang to look at the vigorous development of the cotton industry in the region, and make business decisions based on objective facts.
“We are looking forward to establishing an objective and friendly textile industry cooperation relationship with our foreign counterparts,” said the association. The door to Xinjiang is always open, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on March 24.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
