A leading Christian human rights campaigner has said "moviegoers with a conscience" should think twice about seeing the new Disney production of Mulan. 

Writing in the Hong Kong Free Press, Benedict Rogers called on people to boycott the movie, saying that it was "so knee-deep in collusion with the Chinese regime that it is not a family feature film but a Communist Party propaganda initiative".

He criticised Disney's decision to film Mulan in Xinjiang, the region of China where Muslim Uighurs have been the victims of intense persecution, including incarceration in prison camps, slave labour, sexual violence and torture. 

Rogers, Christian Solidarity Worldwide's East Asia Team Leader, said the producers of Mulan appeared to be "in bed with this criminal state", noting the credits at the end of the movie which give "special thanks" to eight government bodies in Xinjiang, including the public security bureau in Turpan, home to several prison camps. 

"The Chinese Communist Party's Xinjiang propaganda department also gets an acknowledgement. In other words, this is a film made with the assistance of a regime that is committing crimes against humanity and may well be genocidal," he said. 

Rogers, who is co-founder of the pro-democracy Hong Kong Watch, continued: "Disney wants to make box office profits in China. And of course China's influence in Hollywood is already well-known. But with Mulan it has now moved from insidious censorship to outright takeover.

"The film is little more than a propaganda tool for Xi Jinping's nationalist and aggressively expansionist agenda, aimed at generating pride at home and influence abroad.

"That is why I will never go to see this new release, and I urge everyone who has a conscience to join the #BoycottMulan campaign."