The fight that never ends: Why are China and the West now fighting over Xinjiang cotton?

Amid intensifying conflicts between China, the US, and other Western countries over human rights issues in Xinjiang, European consumer brands have recently become involved in the controversy as well. This week, Swedish fashion brand H&M and American sports brand Nike were accused of "humiliating China" over human rights issues in Xinjiang, incurring the wrath of Chinese public opinion and eliciting pledges to boycott them. H&M is unlucky. It is facing backlash in China over a statement on due diligence involving Xinjiang cotton that it had released in March last year. In the statement, H&M expressed that it was "deeply concerned…