Attack on China: The Issue of Xinjiang Cotton

The spiteful West is at it again. It is targeting China and fabricates fiction about the country. 

This time, the issue is supposedly forced labor in the cotton fields in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [FYI, Xinjiang is a major global hub for the cotton industry. It produces 85 percent of China's and 20 percent of the world's cotton]. 

Based on the manufactured lie, some international brands (e.g. H&M, Adidas and Nike) had taken upon themselves to believe in the falsehood and announced the ban on Xinjiang cotton in their production. 

In response, more than forty Chinese celebrities have rescinded endorsement contracts with these brands. 

Chinese consumers, too, are unhappy over the stand the brands took and expressed their dissatisfaction by boycotting their products. 

All of this is, of course, going to hurt these big brands. 

"And the ultimate brand value of these Western companies, measured in terms of their growth potential, could be cut in half over the next five years if they refuse to rectify their discriminations against China", Zhang Yi, CEO of Shenzhen-based iiMedia Research told China’s Global Times on Saturday. 

On Thursday, the day after Swedish clothing company H&M triggered a tsunami of condemnation by Chinese netizens over their ill-intended ban on Xinjiang cotton, the company, as well as others too which have adopted similar stances to H&M, saw share prices drop significantly. 

Germany-based Adidas, one of the most popular foreign clothing brands among Chinese consumers, saw their share price drop by more than 6 percent on Thursday. According to media reports, Adidas, together with US-based Nike, saw their market value drop by more than 70 billion yuan ($10.7 billion) on that day. And the market value of H&M also slumped by about 4.8 billion yuan. 

It serves these brands right for taking up an issue that has been politicized by hostile foreign governments and their media.