New People’s Party chair Regina Ip has declared she will stop buying and using Burberry products because the British luxury fashion brand is part of a global campaign that shuns Xinjiang cotton.

“Burberry is one of my favorite brands, especially its classic wool neck scarf, which is both beautiful and warm,” the pro-Beijing lawmaker wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.

“However, based on the false and unreasonable accusations made by the brand against Xinjiang, I have decided to stop buying and discontinue using its products immediately until they apologize or withdraw the accusations.”

To illustrate her post, Ip posed in a photo staring at three of her Burberry scarves laid out on a sofa.

Burberry is one of hundreds of retailers that take part in the Better Cotton Initiative, the world’s largest cotton sustainability program. BCI suspended its approval of cotton sourced from the far western Chinese region of Xinjiang in October, citing human rights concerns.

Chinese celebrities have cut ties or pulled endorsements with several fashion and sportswear labels, including Nike, Adidas and H&M. Chinese consumers on social media are urging a nationwide boycott of the brands which have stated that due to alleged forced labor in the region, they do not use Xinjiang cotton.

Facebook users mocked Ip’s declaration, saying she should go one step further.

“You should at least cut the lousy thing. The country has treated you so well; are you really being so stingy now?” one user quipped. Another said: “How sincere of you. Why don’t you go ahead and burn it?”

The lawmaker on Saturday went on to post on Twitter photos of four successful Chinese celebrities who were ethnic minorities, in an apparent jab at Western critics of China’s Communist Party.

“Look at these poor Uyghur and other minority women from Xinjiang — so badly treated by the CCP — they are so skinny, nothing to eat and nothing to wear!” she wrote mockingly.

Human rights campaigner Luke de Pulford tweeted in response: “Repulsive.”

Ip’s party colleague Dominic Lee marched with Pun Kwok-shan from the pro-Beijing party Civil Force to H&M offices to hand in a petition, demanding the company apologize for “smearing China’s human rights.”

Pun, who had a pair of Nike shoes on, was asked if his action meant he would stop wearing those sneakers. He replied that people should handle the boycott rationally instead of “blindly burning” products. “Today was mainly about demanding a public apology from H&M,” he added.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play