Chinese officials are asking H&M to change the “complex map”

The Shanghai City Council has agreed with H&M that the clothing company will change its “complex map” of China on its website. Reuters. The city council did not share further details about the case.

After being called to a meeting, H&M “quickly fixed the error” ABC News.

It takes place in the midst of a major conflict between Chinese authorities and the clothing chain, in which many chains and countries are involved.

Last week, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on China over the treatment of Muslim Uyghur minorities in the Xinjiang region.

Human rights groups have accused authorities of keeping Uighur and other Muslim minority groups in detention camps in Xinjiang and using them for forced labor. CNN.

Chinese officials on Monday asked the companies to better investigate the matter. They vehemently denied allegations of forced labor and, among other things, asked the United States to look at its own history.

“When sanctions swing over Xinjiang, it will hit your head as well,” Xi Jiangsi, a spokesman for Xinjiang’s regional government, told a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

Great neglect

The state-controlled media has called for the boycott of several large companies such as H&M, Nike and Adidas. Last year, H&M announced that it would no longer buy cotton from the Xinjiang region on charges of labor and human rights abuses. The region accounts for one-fifth of the world’s cotton production.

In many Chinese online stores, you can no longer find products from many major clothing brands. Some of H&M’s stores have been removed from the fire service map services, he writes Bloomberg.

More than 30 Chinese A-list celebrities have reportedly ended their collaborations with several clothing brands that match the boycott. CNN Many also used the headline “I support Xinjiang cotton” on Weibo, one of China’s own social media sites.

The scope of the celebrity celebration has grown, with March 25 being called “Contract Closing Day” by Chinese entertainment circles on Chinese social media, CNN writes.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denied allegations that Beijing led a boycott campaign against H&M and other brands.

“These foreign companies refuse to use Xinjiang cotton only on the basis of lies,” Zhao told a news conference. The New York Times.

“Of course, this will provoke the reluctance and anger of the Chinese people,” he said.

Sanctions

China has responded with its own sanctions after Britain, the United States and Canada imposed sanctions on officials and politicians in China’s Xinjiang province over human rights abuses.

Members of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights were denied access to China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Gayle Munchin and Tony Perkins of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and Canadian MP Michael Chong did the same.

The United States has warned China that retaliatory sanctions against the United States are baseless and could lead to further criticism of the “ongoing genocide” in Xinjiang.

“Beijing ‘s efforts to intimidate and silence the voices calling for human rights and fundamental freedoms contribute to an ongoing international investigation into the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blingen said in a statement.