The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that it has launched investigations into major clothing brands such as Nike and Adidas for allegedly selling products made from Chinese slave labor.
On Tuesday, the committee sent letters to the CEOs of Nike, Adidas, and SHEIN with a series of questions aimed at unearthing the companies’ potential use and distribution of products made from forced Uyghur labor. A letter was also sent to the president of Temu, an online marketplace, with similar inquiries.
“On March 23, 2023, [this committee] held a hearing titled, ‘The Chinese Communist Party’s Ongoing Uyghur Genocide,’” the letters to Nike and Adidas read. At the hearing, according to the letter, members “received written testimony in which an expert assessed that ‘American companies are financing the state-sponsored forced labor programs in the Uyghur Region.’ We seek additional information regarding this matter.”
For context, Uyghur Muslims are a religious minority under persecution in Xinjiang, China. It’s estimated that the CCP has detained roughly 2 million Uyghurs in internment camps, where they are forced to experience routine brainwashing that’s marketed as “reeducation.” Meanwhile, Uyghur women are reportedly forced to undergo sterilization and abortions.
In their letter to Nike, Committee Chair and GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois note how one expert told the committee that the sportswear company is “sourcing garments made not only from cotton from the Uyghur Region but also viscose, lyocell, polyester, leather, and linen from the region.”
“Continuing to import
