Tensions between Beijing and Washington are not good for world trade, says CEO from the Japanese fashion chain. Does the cotton used by Uniqlo come from the provinces of Xinjiang, where the Uighurs are persecuted? Tadashi Yanai refuses to answer in the name of the principle of neutrality.
“I want to be neutral between the United States and China. The American approach is to force companies to pledge allegiance. I wanted to show that I won’t play this game. ”
Tadashi Yanai
Founding president of the Japanese group Fast Retailing (Uniqlo)
In an interview with Japanese business media Nikkei Asia, the CEO Uniqlo explains why he refuses to take sides in the trade war between China and the United States. While Washington bans imports of cotton produced in the Chinese province of Xinjiang, where the Uighur Muslim minority is under fierce repression, the Japanese fashion brand is refraining from any statement regarding the origin of its cotton.
For Tadashi Yanai, founding president of the Japanese clothing group Fast Retailing (Uniqlo, GU, Princesse Tam Tam, Comptoir des cotonniers), international companies have no interest in intervening in the tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Besides, he explains, if “The United States and China may seem to disagree, they are not”, because “American capital is flowing into Chinese investments”, that “Apple products are all made in China” and “Chinese exports to the United States are on the rise”.
The market, nothing but the market
Japan’s English-language business newspaper points out to him that Uniqlo refuses to “Specify if [son] company used cotton from Xinjiang ”, and asks him if it is for fear of‘A Chinese boycott’. Tadashi Yanai répond: “I want to be neutral between the United States and China. The American approach is to force companies to pledge allegiance.”
And the Japanese billionaire to stress that the national market is too limited. Japanese companies “Must admit that Japan has nothing”. He recalls that‘“In 1995 American and Japanese consumers each spent around 16 trillion yen [122 milliards d’euros] for clothing ”, with a slight advantage in Japan. “Today the United States spends between 40,000 and 50,000 billion yen [306 à 383 milliards d’euros], while Japan is less than 9 trillion yen [69 milliards d’euros]”.
And the Japanese boss concludes: “Japan has no choice but to make money in the markets around the world.”
Source
Known as Nikkei Asian Review until September 2020, the magazine Nikkei Asia retains the same editorial line. A rigorous coverage of Asia which underlines the interest of the Japanese group Nikkei on the
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