Chinese Propaganda Officials Celebrate Social-Media Attacks on H&M in Countering Forced-Labor Allegations
March 31 2021 - 4:03PM
Dow Jones News
By Eva Xiao
Propaganda officials quietly celebrated in Beijing two days
after a Chinese social-media post helped ignite a frenzy of outrage
against Western clothing brands, according to people familiar with
the matter, in what they saw as a victory in a new effort to
inoculate China against criticisms from the West.
The furor that scorched Hennes & Mauritz AB's H&M, Nike
Inc., Adidas AG and other boldface names of global retail,
threatening them with lost revenues in one of the world's most
lucrative consumer markets, began with a message from a blogger on
China's Twitter-like Weibo service on March 23, according to an
analysis by Doublethink Lab, a Taipei-based nonprofit that has
researched online Chinese state disinformation. China fanned the
flames the next day through state-media outlets and Communist
Party-affiliated social-media accounts.
The campaign, directed at H&M and other companies over their
expressions of concern about forced labor and discrimination
against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in China's remote
Xinjiang region, came as Beijing draws lessons from what it
considers a successful fight with the West over another hot-button
issue, Hong Kong.
At a meeting late last month officials from China's Foreign
Ministry and the Communist Party's Propaganda Department raised the
example of Hong Kong, and talked about the need to push back on
Xinjiang as international attention has shifted to the Uyghurs,
according to people briefed on the proceedings.
After pro-democracy protests broke out in Hong Kong in 2019,
Beijing authorities initially censored the news on the Chinese
internet before reversing course and promoting protest images as
evidence of an alleged plot by Western powers to destabilize China.
The Communist Party has since cemented its grip on the former
British colony, winning support at home despite opposition from
Western governments.
As officials discussed responding in a similar manner on
Xinjiang, the topic of cotton came up, two of the people familiar
with the matter said. The possibility of pressuring foreign
companies with business interests in China to advance Beijing's
interests was also discussed.
Some scholars present at the meeting argued that Beijing needed
to loudly refute every false story or statement about Xinjiang, the
people said. Other scholars and political advisers suggested China
should respond reasonably and with legal evidence if foreign
companies published "improper statements" on Xinjiang, but that
pressure should come from the public and industry, not the
government.
The attacks on H&M and other Western brands appeared to
follow the latter script.
Allegations that Beijing is committing crimes against humanity
or genocide in the region, which it denies, have become a
flashpoint in relations with Western nations. China's ruling
Communist Party has become more aggressive about countering those
claims and took to Twitter and Facebook more frequently than ever
before last year to portray its policies as beneficial to the
region.
In Xinjiang, Chinese authorities have targeted the region's
mostly Muslim ethnic minorities with mass-detention internment
camps and omnipresent surveillance as part of a campaign of forced
assimilation. Beijing has denied all allegations of human-rights
violations, instead describing the internment camps as
vocational-training centers aimed at countering terrorism and
religious extremism.
Despite the Chinese government's efforts, Western nations have
grown more aggressive in attempting to punish China over Xinjiang.
This month, the European Union imposed sanctions on Chinese
officials for the first time in four decades for human-rights
abuses against Uyghurs. The U.S., U.K. and Canada quickly did the
same.
Beijing is pressing on. After lambasting Western broadcasters
for their reports on Xinjiang, Chinese state broadcaster China
Central Television is scheduled on Friday to air "The War in the
Shadows," a 60-minute documentary it says will "reveal the reasons
behind the Xinjiang's terrorism."
A group of United Nations experts issued a statement this week
that suggests business involvement in Xinjiang will continue to be
a source of conflict between Beijing and the West.
In the statement, members of the Human Rights Council's Working
Group on Business and Human Rights said they had received
information linking more than 150 Chinese and foreign companies to
allegations of human-rights abuses against Uyghur workers.
"Businesses must not turn a blind eye to this and must conduct
meaningful human rights due diligence in line with the UN Guiding
Principles," the statement quoted Surya Deva, the group's vice
chair, as saying.
Write to Eva Xiao at eva.xiao@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 31, 2021 15:48 ET (19:48 GMT)
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