US Customs and Border Protection blocked a shipment of Fast Retailing Co’s Uniqlo shirts in January for breaching an order prohibiting imports of items suspected to be produced by forced labor from China’s state-owned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生產建設兵團).
The blockage of Uniqlo’s cotton men’s shirts, which happened at the Port of Los Angeles, was revealed in a document dated Monday last week in which the US agency denied an appeal by Uniqlo to release the shirts.
Uniqlo is the main brand of Asia’s largest apparel retailer, Fast Retailing, and founded by Japan’s richest man, Tadashi Yanai.
Photo: Bloomberg
The US customs document said that Uniqlo had argued and provided proof that the raw cotton used to produce the shirts did not originate from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
However, Uniqlo failed to provide enough information to establish the items were not produced in part by forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, the customs agency said.
China denies any forced labor, calling it the “biggest lie of the century,” and says its policies are lifting the region out of poverty, boosting the economy and countering extremism.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday reiterated that forced labor is not used in Xinjiang and accused the US of “bullying.”
“Relevant businesses should stand up and oppose the unjustified US behavior,” he said in a regular news briefing.
Uniqlo has not been a key target of boycotts in China compared with rivals such as Hennes & Mauritz AB. Yanai, who is also Fast Retailing’s chief executive officer, has repeatedly declined to comment on Xinjiang, saying the company does not involve itself in political issues.
As of last month, there were 47 Uniqlo stores in the US. Fast Retailing has about 809 Uniqlo stores in mainland China, which make up about one-fifth of revenue for the company.
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