No single case of "forced labor" found in Xinjiang: BCI Shanghai office

A reaper harvests cotton in a field in Manas County of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

The Shanghai representative office of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) said Friday that it has never found a single case related to "forced labor" in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Since 2012, the BCI's team in China has strictly abided by audit principles, carried out second-party credibility audits and third-party verifications at its Xinjiang project site, and "has never found a single incident related to forced labor," the Switzerland-based organization's Shanghai office said in its latest statement.

The Chinese team of the BCI will continue to maintain communication with its cooperation partners in Xinjiang to jointly ensure the sustainable development of the supply chain, it added.

The office said it will actively support the relevant Chinese departments in drafting sustainability standards for China's cotton.