Nike chief executive John Donahoe defended his company's presence in China and affirmed its competitive advantage there Thursday. "Nike is a brand that is of China and for China," Donahoe said. Chinese state media circulated a Nike statement in March that expressed concern about reports of forced labor camps in the Xinjiang region.

Many of the world's biggest fashion brands and retailers are complicit in the forced labour and human rights violations being perpetrated on millions of Uighur people in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China, says a coalition of more than 180 human rights groups.