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US lawmakers push Disney to explain Xinjiang cooperation on filming Mulan

"The decision to film parts of Mulan in the XUAR offers tacit legitimacy to these perpetrators of crimes that may warrant the designation of genocide," the letter said

TASS, September 12. A group of bipartisan US lawmakers, led by Republican Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), sent a letter to the CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Chapek, demanding an explanation of the company's cooperation with the authorities of China's Xinjiang region in the northwest of China as part of the filming of Mulan live action remake, according to Rubio’s website.

"We are writing to inquire about The Walt Disney Company’s cooperation with elements of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s (XUAR) security and propaganda authorities in the production of Mulan. 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 letter said, noting that "Publicly available information prior to the filming of Mulan showed the existence of mass internment camps for the detention of Uyghurs."

"The decision to film parts of Mulan in the XUAR, in cooperation with local security and propaganda elements, offers tacit legitimacy to these perpetrators of crimes that may warrant the designation of genocide," the letter said.

Eighteen Senators and Members of the House of Representatives joined the initiative.

Mulan, directed by Niki Caro, is based on the 1998 animated film of the same name. The film premiered in September 2020.

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