Staff Correspondent | Published: 17:08, Jul 06,2022 | Updated: 17:25, Jul 06,2022
A file photo shows workers sewing clothes at a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka. — New Age photo
Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has claimed that the United States was spreading ‘lies’ about ‘forced labour’ in China’s Xinjiang, and warned that the ‘lies’ might hurt the Bangladesh readymade garments industry if Bangladesh was not cautious enough.
The ambassador made the comment in a video titled ‘#AMinuteWithAmbassador’ that was posted on the Chinese Embassy's verified Facebook page on Tuesday evening.
The Chinese ambassador’s comment came days after Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association’s alert to its members to importing fabrics from China for making readymade garments as the United States has enacted a law imposing restriction on import of goods made with alleged forced labour from Uyghur in China.
The US has signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law on December 23, 2021.
‘It has come to my attention that a certain RMG industry association in Bangladesh recently alerted its members to the risks associated with cotton from China, due to the US’s allegation of “forced labor in Xinjiang’. I also noticed that the alert was issued following a meeting between the association and two representatives from “Indo-Pacific Opportunity Project” affiliated to some US Agency,’ the facebook post read.
‘The so-called “forced labor in Xinjiang” is entirely a lie. But why do they lie? It is now circulated on the internet that two US diplomats previously posted in Guangzhou reportedly confessed in 2021, and I quote, “Nothing is wrong about Xinjiang, but to attack their human right policies is an effective means to make Xinjiang break away from international industrial chain, and to make Uyghurs unhappy, turbulent and then fight against the Chinese government”, unquote,’ the post continued.
‘This disclosure echoes a statement made by a former high-rank US official in 2018,’ it read.
‘Obviously, Washington uses this lie about Xinjiang to smear and defame China, with the ultimate goal of containing China. The reason why I brought it up here today is that, if Bangladeshi people are not cautious enough, this lie may hurt Bangladeshi RMG industry as well,’ the facebook post further read.
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