The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been forced to cancel an official visit to China, after an online video showing workers in the country using illegal labour in their factories went viral.
The video, which went viral on social media, showed two men and a woman working at an iron factory in Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong.
The men, who were not identified, had their arms forced with zip ties as they were dragged through a conveyor belt.
The video also showed workers using a bag to lift and load sacks of metal to be assembled into a new shoe for a company that has been manufacturing shoes in Dongmen since 2006.
A video of the factory workers being dragged through the conveyor belts went viral in China last month.
It triggered a diplomatic row between the two countries over the issue, and caused Chinese businesses to pull out from India’s biggest market.
Modi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ban.
In the video, workers at the Dongguans Iron Industry Corporation were shown using zip ties to tie the men to the conveyors, then drag them into the factory, which was surrounded by a huge steel fence.
The workers were then shown removing metal from the conveyer belt before loading sacks onto the conveyers, the video showed.
The company has been operating since 2006 and produces shoes for major Chinese brands such as Dior and Gucci.
In its statement, the Chinese government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “regrets the unfortunate incident”, adding that it was “shocked and outraged”.
It said the video had “deeply affected the livelihood of the workers involved in the manufacture of shoes in China and in the construction of new factories and plants in the future”.
The ministry added that the workers in question were “trained in China’s manufacturing and trade, and have the right to demand fair treatment and legal treatment from employers”.
