US bipartisan committee urges NBA to end contracts with Chinese firms over forced labour

Amid growing concerns over the treatment of Xinjiang Uyghurs, a US bipartisan parliamentary executive committee on China has sent a letter to the National Basketball Association (NBA) players, urging them to drop contracts with companies that use materials manufactured in Chinese slave labour camps. According to ANI, the commission asked the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) to educate their members about the use of forced labour in the making of sportswear in China and the US government’s determination that genocide and crimes against humanity are being committed by the Chinese government. 

The commission even highlighted how the Chinese sportswear companies like Anta, Li-Ning and Peak have all affirmed that they use cotton produced in the Xinjiang region. They further encouraged NBA players to end their endorsement deals with Chinese sportswear companies if they continue to use Xinjiang cotton. It is worth mentioning that the Chairs of the Commission are the sponsors of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act which would prohibit the import of all goods from the Xinjiang Chinese autonomous region (XUAR) until there is evidence that forced labour is no longer being employed in the region. 

The letter by Congressional-Executive Commission on China read, “We believe that commercial relationships with companies that source cotton in Xinjiang create reputational risks for NBA players and the NBA itself”. 

It added, “The US State Department has determined that the Chinese government is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, including the mass internment of over a million primarily Muslim ethnic minorities and the systematic use of forced labor to make goods for global export”. 

Xinjiang dispute 

The commission noted that since 2018 reporting has revealed that authorities in Xinjiang have systematically forced predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs and others, to engage in forced labour throughout China. They said that there is credible evidence that forced labour exists in Xinjiang’s cotton productions. The commission added that the ethnic minority workers who pick cotton in Xinjiang are subjected to close monitoring and control, and individuals have been detained for refusing to take part in such work programs. 

Meanwhile, some western states have called for an investigation into whether Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide. The US, Britain and Canada have also described China’s policies in Xinjiang as genocide. According to foreign governments and researcher, an estimated one million people or more have been confined in camps in Xinjiang. Authorities have accused of imposing forced labour as well.   

However, the Chinese government has rejected the allegations and characterised the camps, which it says are now closed, as vocational training centres to teach the Chinese language, job skills and the law in order to support economic development and combat extremism.  

(With inputs from ANI)