Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse on Wednesday demanded that Disney CEO Robert Chapek disclose the details of the entertainment company’s “appalling” relationship with the Chinese government.
In a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner, Sasse asks a series of questions relating to the revelation this week that parts of Disney’s remake of Mulan were filmed in Xinjiang, where more than 1 million Uighur Muslims are held in detention facilities. In the closing credits of Mulan, Disney thanked several Chinese entities, many of which are blacklisted by the federal government for human rights abuses, for aiding in the film’s production.
Sasse noted well-documented reports of “forced labor, rape, sterilizations, abortions, and [apostasy]” in Xinjiang and said that Disney’s involvements in the region where “genocide” is occurring “warrant a full and public disclosure.”
“Disney’s willingness to partner with those committing genocide for access, warrant a deeper understanding of your company’s production process,” Sasse wrote. He then asked Chapek nine questions demanding clarification from Disney on its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang.
Among other questions, Sasse asked when Disney began working in Xinjiang and if Disney ever mentioned human rights abuses while securing the ability to film in the closely guarded region after 2017, when communist authorities began cracking down on Uighur Muslims. Sasse also asked if Disney was ever told to “remain silent on human rights abuses” by Chinese authorities.
“What was the nature of relationship with each of the Xinjiang-based entities that Disney publicly gives special thanks to in the closing credits of Mulan?” Sasse wrote. “Can Disney verify that the filming of Mulan did not benefit from Xinjiang-based forced labor?”
One of the entities that Disney thanked in Mulan’s credits, the police bureau in the city of Turpan, was sanctioned this year by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its involvement in interning Uighurs. It was also placed on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List last year, which forbids American companies from trading with groups involved in human rights abuses.
Echoing a jab he threw at Disney last October when Sasse accused then-CEO Robert Iger of “sell[ing] your soul to save your profits,” Sasse wrote that the Chinese government implicates corporate America in its “abuses and outrages” by asking them to make moral concessions for profits.
“American companies, like Disney, that are willing to trade a see-no-evil corporate policy for market access are betraying their own values and lying to their American consumers,” he wrote.
Sasse’s letter came amid outcry about Disney’s Mulan, which has endured multiple scandals as China becomes more aggressive in its domestic policy. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, on Tuesday criticized Disney for filming in a region where the government has built “concentration camps.” Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, also a Republican, slammed the company for working with blacklisted entities.
Mulan is slated to open in Chinese theaters on Friday and is currently available on streaming platforms in the U.S.
