image courtesy of Getty Images After months of being the target of a Chinese boycott, Swedish fashion company H&M experienced a drop in sales in China. Several brands, including H&M, have expressed concern about suspected human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. Celebrities have terminated relations with the brand, and e-commerce companies have removed H&M from their sites as a result of its remark. The sales decline occurred when H&M’s global business returned to profit as the pandemic’s influence faded. Last year, China accounted for about 5% of the retail group’s revenues and is one of its largest suppliers. In the second quarter of 2021, H&M’s sales in China were down 23 percent in local currency compared to the same period last year. “In terms of China, the situation is still complicated. Beyond that, we’ll refer back to what we’ve already said “Helena Helmersson, H&M’s CEO, said as the company calculated the boycott’s impact for the first time. After a loss in the same quarter of 2020, the world’s second-largest fashion retailer posted a stronger-than-expected $420 million (£305 million) pre-tax profit for the quarter. Nike’s CEO defends the company’s Chinese operations. China claims that banning cotton is self-defeating. Nike and H&M are facing China’s wrath for Xinjiang cotton. Several Western brands, like H&M and Nike, have recently experienced backlash from Chinese consumers after the companies expressed concerns over the suspected use of Uyghur forced labor in the cotton industry. After raising concerns about the alleged use of Uyghur forced labor in cotton manufacturing, H&M was pulled from the Chinese online retail site Tmall and local phone makers’ app stores in March. Later in March, though, H&M stated that it was committed to recovering the trust of its Chinese consumers and partners and that its commitment to the nation remained solid. Last week, the CEO of Nike, which is also facing a boycott in China, defended the company’s operations in the nation. In answer to a query regarding competition from Chinese brands, Nike CEO John Donahoe said, “Nike is a brand that is of China and for China.” Mr. Donahoe made the remarks during a presentation of Nike’s fourth-quarter earnings, which revealed that revenue had doubled to a better-than-expected $12.3 billion (£8.8 billion) in the three months ending in March. China’s largest area, Xinjiang, generates over a fifth of the world’s cotton. In principle, it is an autonomous territory, but in practice, it is subject to constraints that have only grown in recent years. Xinjiang is home to millions of Chinese Uyghurs, a Muslim minority that view themselves as culturally and ethnically related to Central Asian states. The huge migration of Han Chinese (China’s ethnic majority) to Xinjiang in recent decades has exacerbated tensions with Uyghurs, which have at times erupted into deadly bloodshed. As a result, there has been a significant security crackdown and an elaborate state monitoring program, both of which critics claim violate Uyghur human rights. China claims that such steps are required to combat separatism and terrorism. Uyghurs have been held in facilities where there have been reports of torture, forced labor, and sexual abuse. China has refuted these assertions, claiming that the camps are “re-education” centers designed to help Uyghurs escape poverty. A number of Western countries placed penalties on Chinese officials in March, citing human rights violations against the Uyghurs. The sanctions were imposed in a coordinated effort by the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. The BBC reported in December that China was pushing hundreds of thousands of minorities, including Uyghurs, into manual labor in Xinjiang’s cotton fields, based on fresh research. Nike, Inc., ChinaXinjiangH&MUyghursNike, Inc., ChinaXinjiangH&MUyghursNike, Inc.,/n
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