Tesla’s announcement that it has opened a showroom in China’s Xinjiang province has provoked a backlash from US trade and human rights groups.
Xinjiang has been a major source of friction between the West and China in recent years, with UN experts and human rights groups estimating that more than a million people, mostly Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities, are being held in camps. the province in western China.
Beijing denies allegations of forced labor and other persecution of Uighurs and Muslims, saying the camps provide them with training.
The American electric car manufacturer announced the opening of its exhibition center in the capital of Xinjiang, Urumqi, on its official Weibo account last Friday.
“On the last day of 2021 we meet in Xinjiang,” wrote the Tesla post.
Today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest American Muslim organization, criticized the move, denouncing Tesla as “supporting genocide.”
The United States has called the treatment of Uighurs and Muslims by the Chinese authorities genocide.
“Elon Musk must close the Tesla showroom in Xinjiang,” the council said on its official Twitter account, referring to the Tesla founder.
In recent months, several foreign companies have found themselves in a difficult position due to tensions between the West and China over Xinjiang, as they try to balance between Western pressures and China’s importance as a market and country of production.
In July, the Swedish clothing company H&M announced that its sales in China fell by 23% in the two months of March-May due to the boycott it suffered when it officially announced that it does not use raw materials from Xinjiang.
Last month, the American company Intel faced similar problems, after it asked its suppliers not to manufacture products and not to use raw materials from this province. Eventually the company was forced to apologize “for the problems we created for our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public.”
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