The article goes to great length to avoid the issue at hand. At the same time it brings up unrelated issues H&M and Nike (??) and others supposedly have.
According to many American activists, human rights in America are also violated for many groups of the society, so, should foreign companies stop using American products, too? Business and politics should stay separated, I believe, which I find specially true for public companies, which have fiduciary duties to their shareholders.
> According to many American activists, human rights in America are also violated for many groups of the society, so, should foreign companies stop using American products, too?
I imagine some of those activists would say yes, since they want to pressure those companies to do better.
That seems like a suspiciously convenient way to absolve everybody of conscience. It's not the business' responsibility, nor the shareholders, nor the customers, nor the politicians. Everybody agrees that it's bad but each expects somebody else to do something about it.
EU decided to sanction China for XJ. First sanctions since TianAnMen. H&M letter was released last year, so timing suggest H&M targeted (by Communist Youth League) in retaliation. A little nationalism organically spread drama to Nike and other brands. As for whys, CCP position has always been foreign companies don't have right / "deserve" market access if they decide to politicized commerce. But more significantly, CCP is adopting more assertive diplomacy. Wolf warrior or whatever lazy western labelling. West thinks it's for domestic audiences. I think it's China finally asserting need for diplomatic "respect", not in terms of admiration but regard, i.e. raise costs for sanctioning China should be as high as sanctioning US, who is more or less immune.