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A few months ago I made the decision to stop buying Chinese goods.
It has been well documented that the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide on one of its own minorities, the Uighur people, with one million imprisoned in forced-labour camps. 

And expert evidence presented to Parliament has told of children being torn from families and women subjected to abhorrent abuse.

prediksimanchestercityvswatford10maret20So how could I possibly continue to support this monstrous regime? And I am not alone. 

Last year a MailOnline survey found that half of Britons said they were trying to avoid buying Chinese goods. The poll reflects widespread concern about Britain's reliance on Beijing. 

A few months ago writer John Naish made the decision to stop buying Chinese goods

This has been stoked by anger at the Chinese government's disastrous attempts to block news of the coronavirus as it emerged in Wuhan, and more recently by its vicious crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. 

Sporting celebrities have joined the clamour, including Demba Ba, the former Premier League striker, who called on football authorities to condemn China's treatment of Uighur Muslims.

Any such protest infuriates China's leadership. 

When the Australian government last year condemned Beijing's human rights violations and its handling of the pandemic, the communists retaliated by slapping trade tariffs on $20billion of key exports, including a crippling 200pc duty on Aussie wine. 

What if we all boycotted Chinese-made goods?

It sounds like such a great idea. 

But sadly, I have discovered that it is far more easily said than done. When our Chinese-made smoothie-maker gave up the ghost, I identified a doughty English brand, Russell Hobbs, and visited its website. 

Next to a proud Union Jack, its website boasts: 'Established in Britain in 1952.' Indeed, the company was founded in Croydon by the British innovators Bill Russell and Peter Hobbs, who launched the world's first coffeemaker that kept the brew warm. 

After a trip to Argos, I unboxed our new blender.

Then I turned the box upside down. Buried ten lines into the blurb that no one reads were the words: 'Made in China.' 

After days of badgering about its products' origins, a spokesman for Spectrum Brands, which acquired Russell Hobbs in 2010, told me: 'The majority of our products are manufactured in China.' 

A Russell Hobbs blender and cashmere sweater, both made in China

I contacted all the other major British brands that market electric consumer goods, asking about Chinese manufacture. 

The great majority did not respond.

It seems that many consider their products' origin to be something of a dirty secret. In fact, finding any China-free British-made electrical goods would be 'highly unlikely', a spokeswoman for the British manufacturers' association Make UK told me. 

Even ones assembled in Britain should contain components made in China because its massive production scale makes the parts cheaper than anyone else's, she added. 

I did find a British-made toaster.

Dualit was launched in 1946 in Crawley, West Sussex, and is still owned by founding family the Gort-Bartens. A spokesman told me: 'Dualit Classic toasters are hand-assembled in the UK at our West Sussex factory.' 


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