China has accused the United States and other Western countries of engaging in a campaign aimed at destabilising the country and rebuked Sweden’s H&M and other foreign companies who have raised concerns about forced labour in the far-western region of Xinjiang.

Xu Guixiang, a spokesman for the regional government of Xinjiang, on Monday rejected allegations that Chinese authorities were committing genocide against the far western region’s Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims.

He also said companies should not politicise their economic behaviour, adding that H&M would not be able to make money any more in the Chinese market because of a 2020 statement that said the Swedish brand would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang.

The re-emergence of that statement has increased a Chinese consumer boycott of H&M, Burberry, Nike, Adidas and other western brands over comments about the sourcing of cotton from Xinjiang, where the United Nations has said someone million Uighurs were subject to detention in internment camps.

Human rights groups also say the detainees are subject to forced labour.

China denies allegations of abuses at the camps, calling them “vocational training” and “re-education” centres set up to tackle religious hardline views in the region.