I would suggest compare this incident with the Boxer Rebellion <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion</a>. Majority of the Chinese mentality haven't changed since the Qing dynasty.
The article says "China is targeting more Western clothes retailers". But it should be noted that this backlash and boycotting of western clothing brands is done by Chinese people, not by the Chinese government. Many do not agree with the western narrative of forced labor cotton.<p>This boycotting is not limited to consumers. Various celebrities are doing it too. They have terminated their contracts with western clothing brands.<p>Interestingly, one such celebrity is Dilraba Dilmurat, a Uyghur celebrity who's very famous in China. Her company announced that they're terminating their contract with Adidas.<p>In addition, many Chinese companies have doubled down and proclaimed that they "support Xinjiang cotton".<p>Various people have pointed out that they do not believe the forced labor stories, because over 70% of cotton in Xinjiang is picked by machines. Whether you believe this statistic is up to you — I'm simply saying that this statistic has been mentioned.<p>This comment is in no way meant to endorse, nor to criticize, the Xinjiang situation. I am only commenting on the facts surrounding the boycott by Chinese people.
What’s being done in Xinjiang is indisputably awful. It’s also clear that the Chinese response is heavily coordinated by the state for its own political benefit.<p>On the other hand, I reckon the average Chinese person on the street hears about corporate boycotts like this and just thinks: you Westerners are a bloody bunch of hypocrites. This week the Georgia legislature disenfranchised innumerable black people and there were two mass shootings. In the past 12 months alone, hundreds of thousands of people have died in America alone in large part due to malignant political influence, and a sitting President incited a riot in the Capitol.<p>You can see how the issue devolves into crass nationalism pretty quickly.<p>Anyone with any sense has been warning about Western countries allowing or causing the erosion of their own soft power in recent decades, culminating most recently with the awful person that was Donald Trump. It’s well and truly coming home to roost now.
Maybe we should offer asylum to the Uyghurs but I think as soon they are here people stop calling the Uyghurs and just classify them as muslims. Same happened with syrian refugees.
Fully expecting this thread to be a shitshow of China-bashing. BBC's articles reference Adrian Zenz as the source, who is known to be an unreliable source with regards to China.<p>As someone who is from a small country, which can only be a kingmaker in the context of the big powers ala the US and China:<p>You western folks are being played hard by these narratives the western institutions are spouting. The chinese are reacting like this simply because they feel they're being wronged, and they've been wronged before.<p>The US's mission to spread democracy is not going to succeed if people feel they're being lied to. Hell, they'll even reject it.