Questions are being asked of Australian retailers who sell Chiq or Changhong branded appliances after the U.S., U.K., and Canada overnight joined the European Union to impose sanctions against China over alleged human rights abuses on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
One senior executive in a local retailer who did not want to be named after contacting ChannelNews claims that Changhong and ChiQ products should be pulled from Australian appliance retailer shelves. “It’s happening overseas why not Australia they said”.
Right across Australia appliance retailers are selling products manufactured by Changhong or ChiQ a Company that owns Changhong Meiling (which was previously called Hefi Meiling) a manufacturing operation that the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) claims is implicated in human rights violations and abuses in China. The Chinese Company manufacturers both appliances and TV’s. 
The EU kicked things off with sanctions that target Chinese entities and individuals.
In the U.K., Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “we’re sending the clearest message to the Chinese government that the international community will not turn a blind eye to such serious and systematic violations of human rights, and we will act in concert to hold those responsible to account.”
The U.S. Treasury said it had sanctioned two Chinese officials, Wang Junzheng and Chen Mingguo, “in connection with serious human rights abuses against ethnic minorities” in Xinjiang. “Chinese authorities will continue to face consequences as long as atrocities occur in Xinjiang,” Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement.
The EU and the USA claim China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour which involves the manufacture of goods for Chinese Companies such as Changhong, and sexual abuse have emerged.
The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, UK, US, and Canada who have already stopped shipments of Changhong appliances.
China has denied the allegations of abuse, claiming the camps are “re-education” facilities used to combat terrorism.
But UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the treatment of Uighurs amounted to “appalling violations of the most basic human rights”.
ChannelNews recently revealed that research group Canstar Blue recently found itself caught up in the controversy after one of its awards was being used by Changhong to spruik their appliances in Australia.
Changhong is using the Canstar Blue Award to make out it is a credible appliance manufacturer.
Rather than backing down, China has upped the ante. Following the European chastisement, Beijing said it would sanction 10 individuals and four entities on the EU side, saying the measures “harm China’s sovereignty and interest” and weren’t based on facts.
Online Changhong Meiling brags about the manufacture of Changhong ChiQ products as well as other product including Electrolux appliances that are manufactured by the Company who went from making a profit to losses after the ban was introduced.
