US Senators urge Disney CEO to explain why it cooperated with Xinjiang authorities over 'Mulan'
Sep 12, 2020
Washington [US], September 13 (ANI/Sputnik): A bipartisan group of US senators has called on the CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek, to explain the movie giant's cooperation with the authorities in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang during the production of the "Mulan" live-action remake, according to the website of Republican senator Marco Rubio.
The Disney film has run into controversy for partly being filmed in the Xinjiang region, where US senators have accused the Chinese authorities of oppression against ethnic Uyghurs. Thirteen senators took part in sending a letter, which was published in full on Rubio's official website, to the Disney CEO.
"We are writing to inquire about The Walt Disney Company's cooperation with elements of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's (XUAR) security and propaganda authorities in the production of Mulan. Disney's apparent cooperation with officials of the People's Republic of China (PRC) who are most responsible for committing atrocities--or for covering up those crimes--is profoundly disturbing," the letter read.
In May, the House of Representatives passed Senate-approved legislation to sanction China over alleged human rights violations against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the country. The international community has alleged that Uighurs are being held in so-called re-education camps.
Beijing has denied the existence of these camps on multiple occasions and has stressed that the country is fully in compliance with the UN's International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Disney first released "Mulan" as an animated film in 1998. The movie is based on a 6th-century Chinese folk-tale of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to participate in military combat. (ANI/Sputnik)