Sen. Hawley Blasts Disney for Mulan’s Shout-Out to Chinese Agency Overseeing ‘Uighur Genocide’; Asks Company to Condemn Torture
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) blasted Disney on Wednesday for its close relationship with the Chinese agency responsible for overseeing “concentration camps” holding Uighurs in China, and asked the company to pull its new movie, Mulan, to avoid “further glorification” of Chinese “atrocities” related to the ethnic minority group.
“There was a time when Beijing might have been satisfied with enslaving Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities, even as it tortured them into abandoning their beliefs and swearing loyalty to the party,” Hawley wrote in a letter addressed to Disney CEO Robert Chapek. “But that is no longer the case. Now Beijing appears intent on destroying the Uighur people. And it has rolled out a sophisticated campaign to do just that, including by systematically sterilizing Uighur women and aborting their children.”
Hawley shredded the company for filming Mulan in the Uighurs’ native province of Xinjiang, where China has detained more than a million people in “reeducation” camps, and asked the company to describe its relationship with Chinese authorities at the Turpan Public Security Bureau, which is responsible for overseeing the camps, noting the ending credits of Mulan recognized the bureau with “special thanks.”
“How exactly does giving ‘special thanks’ to the officials responsible for imprisoning, torturing, and forcibly sterilizing millions of people because of their ethnicities and beliefs align with your supposed commitment to promoting human dignity and respecting human rights?” Hawley wrote. “How does glorifying the Chinese authorities perpetrating abuses in Xinjiang provide comfort, inspiration, and opportunity to Uighur children—including those who were never born because the CCP forced their mothers to abort them? Disney’s actions here cross the line from complacency into complicity.”
He closed with a series of questions that could put Disney in an awkward position with the country — including whether it compensated the security bureau or supported China’s activity in the region. “Does Disney condemn the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party against Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang?” Hawley wrote. “Will Disney donate any of the profits drawn from Mulan to non-governmental organizations dedicated to fighting human trafficking and the other atrocities underway in Xinjiang?”
Disney over the weekend released Mulan on its online streaming platform, Disney+, six months after its theatrical release was scuttled by the coronavirus. The company took painstaking measures to make the $200 million, live-action movie more palatable to China than the animated 1998 original, which was initially banned in the country due to the government’s displeasure with Kundun, a Disney documentary exploring the Chinese occupation of Tibet, which was released the previous year.
Some of those measures — such as asking the Chinese government to approve the script and hiring Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei to fill the movie’s lead role — have led to critical reception for Mulan in countries across Asia. Activists have cited Liu’s support for the Chinese Communist Party as a significant factor fueling movements to boycott the movie in Hong Kong, Thailand, and Taiwan.
“For nearly a century, Disney has told stories, produced films, and built theme parks that inspired us, brought us together, and showed us the very best of what America had to offer the world,” Hawley added in his letter. “Your decision to uncritically approve this film’s release rather than apologizing to those harmed by Disney’s actions is reprehensible. Your decision to put profit over principle, to not just ignore the CCP’s genocide and other atrocities but to aid and abet them, is an affront to American values.”
He asked the company to respond to his questions by September 30.
