US lawmakers question Disney CEO over Xinjiang links to ‘Mulan’

A group of US lawmakers on Saturday urged Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek to explain the company’s connection with the “security and propaganda” authorities of China’s Xinjiang region during the production of its $200 million live-action epic-“Mulan.”

The movie had thanked the Xinjiang authorities in its end credits. The province is infamous for its internment camps in which about 1 million people – mostly Muslim Uighurs – are detained.

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“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 lawmakers wrote in a letter.

The letter was tweeted by the Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC), which monitors human rights and the rule of law.

Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Friday dismissed the controversy, saying it was “very normal” to thank the Xinjiang government for their help and shrugging off criticism by “some so-called human rights organisations.”

He went onto applaud Chinese-American star Liu as “the contemporary Mulan” and “a true child of China”. According to the ticketing platform Maoyan, Mulan opened in China on Friday and sold around 41 million yuan ($5.99 million) worth of tickets by the afternoon.

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The movie drew flak even before its official release when lead star Liu Yifei came in support of the Hong Kong’s police as they cracked down on democracy protests the last year.