According to the documents, although Fast Retailing argued that the batch of products had nothing to do with Xinjiang, they failed to provide enough evidence to establish the relationship and were therefore detained by Los Angeles Customs. In response to the above incident, the Japanese company declined to comment.
According to reports, on May 10, a document disclosed by the US Customs and Border Protection showed that Uniqlo’s cotton men’s shirts were sold in Los Angeles, USA. The port was intercepted. The relevant documents from the U.S. Customs pointed out that Uniqlo disputed the direct seizure of the goods by the U.S. Customs and provided relevant proof that the raw material of the shirt fabric did not come from Xinjiang cotton produced by the U.S. government’s so-called “forced labor.”
On March 24, Swedish clothing brand H&M issued an official statement on its official website, saying that there was so-called “forced labor” in cotton in China’s Xinjiang “H&M claimed that it would no longer cooperate with any clothing factory in Xinjiang, China, and would no longer purchase any raw materials from there. Subsequently, it was revealed that a number of international brands such as H&M, Uniqlo, and Adidas had reached an agreement with the Swiss Better Cotton Development Association (BCI) to no longer use cotton from Xinjiang, China.
However, this so-called “forced labor” reason itself is untenable. After the Xinjiang cotton incident fermented, industry insiders pointed out that this professional organization that claims to be responsible for light cotton cultivation standards , in fact, it is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that provides capital operations. This capital agency operated by the US federal government clearly states in its official documents that it is “based on the national interests of the United States.” On this basis, the BCI organization is actually a tool manipulated by American politics.
According to US media reports on April 14, BCI has withdrawn its statement on boycotting the use of China’s Xinjiang cotton. BCI Shanghai Branch also stated on March 26 that it had not found any “forced labor” in Xinjiang. After the Xinjiang cotton incident fermented, sports brands that participated in the boycott of Xinjiang cotton were boycotted by the Chinese market. Among them, the sales of domestic products such as Adidas and Nike plummeted in April. Domestic sports brands are favored by Chinese consumers, and Li Ning’s sales even exceeded 800% in April this year
Uniqlo founder Yanai Tadashi also recently Responded to the Xinjiang cotton incident, saying it “maintains a neutral attitude.” In addition, Yanai Tadashi also said that Uniqlo is currently developing well in the Japanese and Chinese markets, and will focus its development on Asia in the future, striving to become the number one in Asia. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference that “forced labor” in China’s Xinjiang does not exist in itself. Foreign people from all walks of life are welcome to visit Xinjiang and take a look. We believe that rumors only stop with the wise and justice will prevail in the hearts of the people. </p
