Popular Cantopop star Eason Chan announced on Thursday that he is cutting ties with Adidas, a member of global sustainability program Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) which said last October it would pull out from Xinjiang due to concerns about forced labor.
Chan published the statement on Chinese social media platform Weibo, declared that he and his company will “resolutely boycott any behavior vilifying China.”
“From today onwards, [we] will cease all collaboration with Adidas,” the statement adds.
The message did not appear on Chan’s
Facebook page.
Besides being a member of BCI, Adidas also said in its Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement, published Oct. 2019, that it has never manufactured goods in Xinjiang nor has it had contractual relationships with any Xinjiang supplier.
On
Facebook and popular forum LIHKG, many Hongkongers expressed disappointment after Chan announced he would cut ties with Adidas, a move read as support for the Chinese Communist Party.
“I will never listen to his songs again!” One
Facebook user wrote.
Another Hong Kong Cantopop singer Joey Yung also shared a post on Weibo on Thursday expressing her support for Xinjiang cotton, whilst local pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip did so on Twitter.
Ip posted a photo on
Facebook where she displays her Burberry scarfs, saying she will stand with her country in boycotting companies that spread lies about Xinjiang.
“Burberry is one of my favorite brands. But I will stop buying Burberry products,” she wrote.
