Following the international backlash over reported human rights abuses in Xinjiang province, Chinese officials are trying to reverse the blame by shedding light on slavery.
At a news conference Thursday at China’s embassy in Washington, Chinese spokeswoman Hua Chunying dismissed questions about recent boycotts of well-known brands such as Nike, Adidas and H&M after the United States, under President Trump, banned imports of cotton from Xinjiang in January.
“On the issue of ‘forced labor’ itself, the allegations against Xinjiang made by some Western countries, including the United States, are based entirely on lies,” Hua Joi told reporters.
“Here is a picture of black slaves being forced to work in cotton fields in the United States,” Hua told reporters, who came prepared with photos. “Here is another picture of cotton fields in Xinjiang, China, where more than 70% of cotton is harvested by machine. There is never “forced labor” in cotton harvesting in Xinjiang. “
“Some are determined to make connections [job opportunity] with forced labor and oppression, because they have been doing this themselves for hundreds of years in history, ”she continued. “They assume the behavior of others based on their own experience.”
China has recently developed a defense tactic to try to turn accusations of oppression against it, raising social justice issues in the United States.
A top Chinese diplomat criticized the US during a controversial US-China summit in Alaska, saying “there are many human rights issues in the United States” and called the Black Lives Matter a “deep” issue.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken highlighted the abuses reported in Hong Kong, Taiwan and against the Uighurs, an ethnic Muslim minority group in Xinjiang.
Highlighting slavery in the US step comes after the US, along with other Western countries, imposed new sanctions on the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has been overly denounced for human rights violations against Uighurs.
President Biden himself did not classify the PRC’s abuses as genocide, but in a statement Monday, Blinken accused China of continuing to “commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”