International pressure against China over its Xinjiang policies has gained traction in recent months, with China criticised over the treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. China has denied allegations of forced labour and detention. We look at the issues in this series.
It’s spring in Uzbekistan and a new wave of cotton plants is rising from the earth.
The crop is known as “white gold” in the Central Asian country and this year’s harvest could be particularly lucrative.
After an easing in a decade-long international boycott over forced labour, Uzbekistan, the world’s sixth-biggest cotton producer, is expecting to cash in as buyers turn their back on supplies from China.
Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer
China ranks second globally in cotton production, with more than 600,000 people employed in cotton processing factories in Xinjiang and producing nearly 5.9 million tonnes of the crop last year – the bulk of it from the far western region.
But now it is the one under international pressure, with critics accusing authorities of labour abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang and buyers looking elsewhere as they try to avoid the political fallout.
Labour analysts say that Uzbekistan’s turnaround from pariah to preferred supplier could be an example for others – like Xinjiang – to follow.
Uzbek activists began raising the alarm about forced labour in the country’s cotton industry more than a decade ago, with the Cotton Campaign starting in 2007 to bring attention the conditions faced by Uzbek agricultural workers.
At that time, millions of people, including doctors, teachers and even children, were mobilised to bring in the cash crop.
Sanctions followed, and more than 300 brands and retailers, including Zara and Adidas signed the international boycott of Uzbek cotton and textiles, called the Uzbek Cotton Pledge.
Uzbekistan has since launched radical reforms to end child labour and also begun to curb forced labour through privatisation of cotton farms and trying to move up the value chain.
Uzbekistan has been working to eradicate forced labour from its cotton industry. Photo: AFP
More than 1,000km (620 miles) to the east in Xinjiang, Chinese authorities have been the target of similar accusations.
The United Nations and human rights groups allege that 1 million Uygurs and members of other ethnic minorities have been put in internment camps in Xinjiang, and suspected of being subjected to abuse including forced labour.
The central government has strongly denied the allegations and said the facilities are for vocational training and “deradicalisation” programmes.
But in January, the United States responded to the accusations by banning imports of cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang, with Canada and Britain following suit. Many international brands have also gone on record to declare their products are not made from Xinjiang cotton.
One of those brands is H&M. The fashion giant said in September that it had stopped using cotton from Xinjiang based on advice from the Better Cotton Initiative, an industry certification agent.
Sportswear brand Nike made a similar commitment, as did Ralph Lauren, Gap and American Eagle Outfitters, which explicitly prohibited their vendors and suppliers from sourcing any products or raw materials from Xinjiang.
“Ralph Lauren does not source any yarn, textiles or products from Xinjiang. Our suppliers are prohibited from using any cotton grown in the Xinjiang region,” the company said.
“As part of our long-term, global supply chain strategy, we continue to diversify our sourcing locations and prioritise responsibly sourced materials to create a more agile and sustainable supply chain.”
Consumers and state media in China responded with calls to boycott the firms but companies like Ralph Lauren have pressed ahead, saying “diversifying the supply chain has become a corporate strategy for the brand”.
BCI, meanwhile, has stopped all field-level activities in Xinjiang, citing “sustained allegations of forced labour and other human rights abuses” that had “contributed to an increasingly untenable operating environment”.
While the impact of the Western bans have yet to fully emerge, researchers say there are signs that US companies are decoupling from their Chinese suppliers to head off political risks.
Fan Di, assistant professor with Hong Kong Polytechnic University specialising in fashion retail and marketing, said this effect would spill over from cotton to other sectors.
Fan said that based on data on nearly 2,000 US companies compiled by American financial information service FactSet, Chinese companies were suppliers to 31.3 per cent of the firms in February, down from 37 per cent in 2017.
“There are two incremental decreases, reflecting how the friction between US and China affects the buyer-supplier relationship between the two countries. Despite the decrease, China remains to be the most important sourcing base for US firms for now,” he said.
And it is that gap that Uzbekistan is hoping to fill.
A cotton grower works in a field in Uzbekistan. Photo: AFP
An official source close to Uzbekistan’s cotton industry said the central Asian country was expecting “a huge influx of trade and investment” in the next 18 to 24 months.
“What is happening in Xinjiang now is in fact a window of opportunity for Uzbekistan. We are seeing a sharp increase from large multinational brands and retailers expressing their interests to source from Uzbekistan as they were concerned with their exposure in China,” the source said, declining to be named.
“I have spoken to at least 10 multinational companies, mostly European and some American companies, and industry associations, who said that they are looking to get out of Xinjiang.
“That’s a very clear message we have heard consistently in the last two months. If Uzbekistan can present itself as an alternative sourcing destination with a lower sourcing risk, then companies would want to move their business here.”
Major buyers such as Olam and Cargrill declined to comment on their latest cotton supply chain management strategies.
Uzbekistan could also become a source of cotton for China, which consumes much more than it produces. Last year China imported a total of 2.16 million tonnes of cotton and 45 per cent of that came from the US.
But industry media outlet Ecotextile News reported last month that China was also looking to Central Asian nations such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to reduce its reliance on the US and Australia for cotton due to tension with the two countries.
Aidan McQuade, former director of Anti-Slavery International, said news reports indicated the alleged forced labour in Xinjiang were similar to the conditions in Uzbekistan as both appeared to be state-sponsored.
“However, in Uzbekistan, the system affected pretty much the entire population, both private companies and public services were expected to send employees to labour on the cotton harvest, and kids were taken out of school for the same purpose,” said McQuade, who researched conditions in the Central Asian nation.
“The way in which the forced labour system in Xinjiang seems to apply so comprehensively to Uygurs means that it has attracted the taint of genocide in the eyes of the international community as well as state-sponsored slavery,” he said, citing Western media reports.
China does not have a policy targeting specific ethnic minorities. The forced labour practices are generally alleged to be imposed on members of central Asian ethnic minorities.
Uzbekistan’s transformation began in earnest in 2017 when the then newly elected president Shavkat Mirziyoyev made a public commitment at the UN General Assembly in New York to work with the International Labour Organization to stamp out labour abuses.
It ratified ILO conventions and allowed monitors into the country.
Xinjiang farmers cover a cotton field a with plastic film as part of the cotton-sowing procedure in Yuli county in March. Photo: Xinhua
Cotton farms are being privatised and the manufacturing of cotton as raw materials are also gradually being moved up the value chain to produce garments. In addition to macroeconomic policies to overhaul tax, currency and fiscal system, the country also pushed through social reform by allowing free speech.
According to Jonas Astrup, chief technical adviser with ILO’s Third Party Monitoring Project, there were as many as 2 million child labourers in Uzbekistan’s cotton harvest before 2013.
As of 2015, 3.5 million Uzbek adults, or about one-eighth of its population, were mobilised for the cotton harvest.
“It’s staggering statistics. The practice of child labour ended in 2014 that saw 2 million schoolchildren back to school receiving education. We have seen a 500 per cent drop in forced labour compared to 2015 when the cotton harvest season ended last December. That’s a very significant decrease,” Astrup said.
The US Trafficking in Persons report noted those improvements but said there were still some abuses, including forced labour.
“It is hoped that the fairy tale-like transformation of Uzbekistan could be an encouraging model for other countries to follow,” Astrup said.
“South China Morning Pos”
Mimi Lau
17.05.21