UK Court Hears Demands To Ban Xinjiang Cotton

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Facts

  • Germany-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the nonprofit Global Legal Action Network are taking the UK government to court to challenge its failure to block the import of cotton products allegedly associated with forced labor and other abuses in China's Xinjiang region.
  • Tuesday's hearing at the High Court in London is believed to be the first time a foreign court has heard legal arguments from the Uyghurs over the issue of alleged forced labor in Xinjiang, which is estimated to produce one-fifth of the world's cotton.
  • Justice Dove will rule on whether HM Revenue & Customs, the Home Office, and the National Crime Agency acted unlawfully by failing to investigate alleged breaches of the 1897 Foreign Prison-Made Goods Act and the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act.
  • Rights groups have accused Beijing of widespread abuses, including the mass use of forced labor in camps, against Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that has a population of approximately 10M people in Xinjiang.
  • WUC UK Director Rahima Mahmut has claimed that "for too long, the UK government has allowed the products of Uyghur forced labor to enter British markets," while China has argued that allegedly now-closed vocational training centers were set up to prevent terrorism.

Sources: VOA, Independent, Law Gazette, Reuters, and RFA.

Narratives

  • Anti-China narrative, as provided by The Telegraph. While the UK may have imposed fines for companies operating in China that fail to prove their products aren't linked to slavery, this isn't enough to punish Beijing for its human rights abuses. Britain should've followed the US and banned all imports of cotton from Xinjiang, as there's plenty of evidence that Uyghurs are being forced to pick the plant under slave-like conditions.
  • Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. Xinjiang cotton field operations have become highly mechanized, with no signs of forced labor. Nevertheless, the West continues to put forth baseless claims in an attempt to smear Beijing. Cotton-related sanctions will only damage the global cotton industry. If anyone is forcing and exploiting labor in Xinjiang, it's the West with its capitalist system of globalization.

Predictions