Chinese consumers firmly support Xinjiang cotton

Chinese consumers are backing Xinjiang-grown cotton and relevant products to refute the groundless “forced labor” accusations.

Claims made by some foreign brands, including H&M and Nike, that they refuse to use Xinjiang cotton due to the alleged “forced labor” in the region have triggered a strong backlash from the Chinese public.

“Xinjiang cotton is of great quality and I often buy clothes and quilts made of it. It’s a loss for these brands to reject the material out of political reasons,” said Wang Linlin, a shopper from Nanjing.

China is the world’s second-largest cotton producer, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region accounts for nearly 90 percent of the country’s cotton output. Nearly 70 percent of Xinjiang’s cotton fields use machinery to pick cotton during the harvest season, making large-scale manual cotton-picking a thing of the past.

“I think Chinese consumers are clear headed. They refuse to be fooled by some Westerners who chose to turn a blind eye,” Wang added.

On Weibo, the hashtag “I support Xinjiang cotton” had received over 7 billion views as yesterday.

“We support Xinjiang cotton because the national interests are above everything,” one Weibo user named “liaibaobei” commented.

More customers are sharing their experiences of buying Xinjiang cotton products online, frequently using words like “warm,” “comfortable” and “durable” to describe clothes, quilts, towels and other items made from one of the world’s best cotton fibers.

The boycott of cotton and related products from Xinjiang by certain international trade bodies and foreign companies, based on groundless rumors, has seriously hurt the feelings of Chinese consumers and infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, the Chinese Consumer Association said last Thursday.