{"id":1215446,"date":"2022-01-13T23:04:35","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T04:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1215446"},"modified":"2022-01-13T23:04:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T04:04:43","slug":"congress-asks-olympics-committee-to-explain-deals-with-chinese-slave-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/congress-asks-olympics-committee-to-explain-deals-with-chinese-slave-companies\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Asks Olympics Committee to Explain Deals with Chinese Slave Companies"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcongress-asks-olympics-committee-to-explain-deals-with-chinese-slave-companies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1215446&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">American lawmakers sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday demanding an explanation for the IOC\u2019s business deals with two Chinese apparel companies that source their cotton out of Xinjiang, a far-west occupied region where evidence suggests widespread use of slave labor.<\/p>\n<p>Xinjiang is home to the Muslim-majority Uyghur ethnic group, who refer to the region as East Turkistan. China is currently engaging in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/12\/09\/tribunal-olympics-host-china-beyond-a-reasonable-doubt-guilty-of-genocide\/\">genocide<\/a> against the Uyghur people \u2013 systematically locking up millions in concentration camps, forcibly sterilizing entire communities to ensure the group does not grow, and bulldozing historical sites, mosques, and cemeteries to divorce Uyghurs from their religion, culture, and identity. Both the administrations of Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden recognize the Chinese Communist Party policy of eliminating Uyghur identity as genocide.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>In addition to the crime of genocide, extensive evidence points to China enslaving Uyghurs rounded up for concentration camps. In 2020, the&nbsp;Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region, a group of over 200 human rights groups,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/07\/23\/china-infiltrating-global-fashion-industry-slave-cotton\/\">launched<\/a> a campaign against the use of cotton from Xinjiang on the grounds that extensive research there showed that many companies engaging in cotton production were using Uyghur slaves to get the work done. The groups accused big-name Western fashion brands of benefitting from the slave trade, as about 84 percent of Chinese cotton \u2013 20 percent of cotton produced worldwide&nbsp; \u2013 comes from Xinjiang.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost every major apparel brand and retailer selling cotton products is potentially implicated,\u201d the Coalition declared at the time. \u201cRight now, there is near certainty that any brand sourcing apparel, textiles, yarn or cotton from the Uyghur Region is profiting from human rights violations, including forced labour, both in the Uyghur Region and more broadly throughout China.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12141602\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12141602\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Getty-Images_AFP_Angela-Weiss.jpg\" alt=\"Nike\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Getty Images\/AFP\/Angela Weiss<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>That same year, China human rights researcher Adrian Zenz <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/12\/15\/study-china-using-poverty-alleviation-apps-to-force-half-a-million-uyghurs-to-pick-cotton\/\">published<\/a> a study revealing that the Chinese government was using mobile phone apps to sell slaves to textile companies under the guise of \u201cpoverty alleviation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evidence shows that in 2018, three Uyghur regions alone mobilized at least 570,000 persons into cotton-picking operations through the government\u2019s coercive labor training and transfer scheme,\u201d the study found. \u201cXinjiang\u2019s total labor transfer of ethnic minorities into cotton picking likely exceeds that figure by several hundred thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States banned cotton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/01\/14\/us-bans-all-cotton-tomato-products-chinas-uyghur-concentration-camp-region\/\">imports<\/a> from Xinjiang last year. Last month, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/12\/17\/congress-passes-bill-banning-chinas-uyghur-slave-products-sending-it-to-biden\/\">passed<\/a> a law banning all imports from Xinjiang unless the importer could provide sufficient evidence that the products were not made by slaves.<\/p>\n<p>Two companies contracted to provide uniforms to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have overt ties to the Xinjiang cotton industry: the Chinese sportswear giant Anta Sports and the textile company&nbsp;Hengyuanxiang Group (HYX Group). The heads of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cecc.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/chairs-ask-ioc-president-to-justify-contracts-with-chinese-companies\">wrote<\/a> to IOC President Thomas Bach on Wednesday demanding answers to the details of the IOC\u2019s relationship with the companies in question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Anta and HYX Group both continue to use cotton produced in the XUAR [Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region], there is a worrisome possibility that IOC personnel or others attending the 2022 Olympic Games will be wearing clothing contaminated by forced labor,\u201d the letter read in part. The text, signed by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), requested proof that the Olympics clothing in question was not manufactured with slave products.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhat assurances, if any, did the IOC receive that the certificate provided by HYX Group was reliable?\u201d the letter asked, requesting that the IOC make public proof that HYX allegedly gave Olympics organizers that slaves did not manufacture their apparel.<\/p>\n<p>The letter also requested the IOC \u201cexplain publicly the assurances Anta Sports gave the IOC that the products Anta Sports supplied to the IOC were not produced in whole or in part by forced labor.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cCotton produced in the XUAR is synonymous with forced labor and the systematic repression that takes place there,\u201d the letter read. \u201cForced labor plays an integral role in the genocide taking place against Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The IOC <a href=\"https:\/\/ir.anta.com\/en\/news_detail.php?id=38697\">signed<\/a> a deal with Anta, one of China\u2019s largest sports brands and a Fila affiliate, in 2017, shortly before the first reports of dictator Xi Jinping implementing genocidal policies in Xinjiang began. Anta became the official sportswear partner of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>The IOC <a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/ioc\/news\/ioc-announces-hyx-as-formal-uniform-supplier\">signed<\/a> its deal with HYX in 2019, commissioning the group to manufacture Olympics uniforms.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_15778090\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15778090\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Uyghur.jpg\" alt=\"Supporters and members of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement rally outside the White House to urge the United States to end trade deals with China and take action to stop the oppression of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples August 14, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters and members of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement rally outside the White House. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe are pleased to be working with HYX and look forward to wearing our formal uniforms with pride in Tokyo next year and in Beijing in 2022,\u201d Bach said at the time. \u201cI would like to thank in particular IOC Vice-President Zaiqing Yu for his work in bringing this agreement to life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CECC noted that HYX maintains facilities to process cotton in China. Anta, in turn, has vocally defended the use of Xinjiang slave cotton, <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2021\/04\/03\/anta-shoes-sneakers-basketball-nike-adidas-xinjiang-cotton-boycott-china\/\">backing out<\/a> of the Better Cotton Initiative last year in protest of the organization\u2019s opposition to Uyghur slavery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have been purchasing and using cotton produced from China, including the Xinjiang region, and we will continue to purchase and use cotton from China,\u201d Anta said in a statement last year.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese Foreign Ministry defended the two companies on Thursday in response to the CECC letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to point out that this so-called the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has been biased against China,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fmprc.gov.cn\/mfa_eng\/xwfw_665399\/s2510_665401\/2511_665403\/202201\/t20220113_10495243.html\">said<\/a>. \u201cIt keeps making all sorts of unfounded remarks related to China and has no political credibility at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe so-called \u2018forced labor\u2019 in Xinjiang, a lie of the century, is long bankrupt. Except for a handful of anti-China forces harboring ulterior motives, all people respecting facts and upholding conscience will not accept such despicable hypes,\u201d Wang concluded.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642161379644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2KsJGEDN0dCYru1Q_YIpQN\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1642161379644000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1u99D4zr-gWL5JBrs4FGTt\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American lawmakers sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday demanding an explanation for the IOC\u2019s business deals with two Chinese apparel companies that source their cotton &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1215446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1215446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}