VOC’s Dr. Adrian Zenz in the New York Times

Speaking with the New York Times, VOC Senior Fellow and Director of China Studies Adrian Zenz explains how the viral Labubu dolls, sold across America by the Chinese company Pop Mart, are linked to state-imposed forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and how the U.S. government can push back.

As the New York Times writes:

Over the past two years, a furry monster with bunny ears and a vicious line of serrated teeth became the subject of a global craze, as shoppers waited hours in line or paid hundreds or thousands of dollars for the most coveted Labubus.

The boom turned Pop Mart, the Chinese company that sells Labubus, into a global brand. But a test of the doll — the results of which The New York Times has independently confirmed — showed that clothing on certain Labubu dolls contains cotton from the Xinjiang region of western China, which the U.S. government has banned because of its association with forced labor.

For businesses like Pop Mart, selling products that contain cotton banned in the United States could have severe consequences. Companies found in violation of a 2021 law that restricts imports from Xinjiang can be put on a blacklist that bans all their products. The ban does not apply to importers that can prove goods were not made with forced labor.

A spokeswoman for Pop Mart said that it would conduct an investigation into the presence of Xinjiang cotton in its supply chains, and that the company held itself and its suppliers to “the highest standards.” Pop Mart said that only a small percentage of its dolls used cotton for apparel, and that it was working on a plan to use alternative materials, rather than cotton, in its products for the U.S. market…. “Pop Mart should prove that all of its dolls in the United States are slave-labor-free,” said Representative Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, a Republican who is a co-chair for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “If they cannot, customs has the authority to stop all Labubu imports, and I will ask them to do so.”

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has rarely been used against consumer companies, and never for a product as viral as the Labubu, said Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow and Director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.