By Eva Xiao

HONG KONG -- The world's largest clothing brand, Hennes & Mauritz AB's H&M, is under assault in China, one of its biggest markets, over its stance on forced labor in the country's remote cotton-producing region of Xinjiang.

Chinese state media and social-media users excoriated the Swedish fast-fashion giant in an explosion of anger on Wednesday, accusing the company of spreading rumors and smearing China over a statement it made last year on forced labor in China's northwest Xinjiang region.

Searches for the H&M's name on China's biggest e-commerce platforms were blocked on Wednesday, while internet users took to China's Twitter-like Weibo to call for boycotting the company, which operates more than 400 stores in China. Two of the fashion company's Chinese brand ambassadors also announced they were cutting ties with H&M over what was called its smearing of China.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Pinduoduo Inc., and JD.com Inc., which run the e-commerce sites blocking H&M, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Spreading rumors to boycott Xinjiang cotton while trying to make money in China? Wishful thinking!" wrote China's Communist Youth League in a post on Weibo that was forwarded nearly 30,000 times and attracted around 10,000 comments.

Western companies "should not be involved in this ideological conflict between China and the West under any circumstances," Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of nationalist tabloid the Global Times, wrote in his own post on the platform.

The outrage appears to be in response to a statement the company issued last year expressing concern about reports of forced labor and discrimination against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. H&M said in the statement that it didn't source products from the region and that it strictly prohibits forced labor in its supply chain, regardless of country.

On Wednesday, in response to the backlash, the company said it followed international guidelines for sustainability and that its supply chain principles "did not represent any political position."

"We are committed to long-term investment and development in China," the company posted on its official Weibo account, adding that it cooperated with more than 350 manufacturers in China.

H&M reported sales of more than $1.1 billion in China in 2020 despite a drop in store traffic because of the coronavirus pandemic. That places the country among its four largest markets, according to the company.

It could not be determined why the company faced the sudden onslaught over comments it had made in the past.

--Sha Hua and Keith Zhai contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-24-21 1126ET