Todd Bishop
Christmas is approaching. Foreign media recently reported that when a British girl bought a Chinese-made Christmas card at the local supermarket Tesco, she found out that the suspect was a foreign prisoner writing for help, claiming to have been forced to work in Shanghai prison. Following Tesco’s announcement to stop buying from relevant Chinese suppliers, Australian fashion brand Cotton On said it had launched an investigation into the printing supplier involved.
Company suspended import of Xinjiang cotton in October
In response to Australian media enquiries, Cotton On stated that it was concerned about the development of the incident and had launched investigations on relevant suppliers, emphasizing that it would adopt a zero tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery, including forced labor. The company also pointed out in October that it was concerned that there were reports that Xinjiang Uyghurs were forced to work in textile mills during the imprisonment of reeducation camps. After an internal review, they decided to suspend the import of cotton from Xinjiang.
The Sunday Times reported last week that 6-year-old girl Florence Widdicombe, who lives in London, bought the box of Christmas cards at Tesco and found a message asking for help. Some foreign prisoners claiming to be Shanghai Qingpu Prison claimed , Forced labor by the authorities against their will.
According to Tesco, the batch of Christmas cards was produced by the Zhejiang Yunguang Printing Factory, and an investigation has been launched, but reiterated that there is no evidence that the factory uses forced labor. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied this, saying that “there is no forced labor for foreign criminals in Shanghai Qingpu Prison” and criticized the incident as “a farce made up” by former British journalist Peter Humphrey.
