A US lawmaker has called on Starbucks to close its first stores in China’s Xinjiang , calling it a “morally bankrupt decision” to do business in a region where Uyghurs face repression.
“This is a shocking and morally bankrupt decision by a company that prides itself on social responsibility,” he said in a statement published on Thursday.
“There is no justifiable reason for an American company to do business in a region where the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has detained more than a million Uyghurs and is stripping them of their faith, language, and culture.”
Starbucks said on its official WeChat platform this week that they were not just new coffee outlets in Xinjiang but a new experience that blended local culture and customer needs. The company would continue investing in Xinjiang, its China Chief Executive Officer Liu Wenjuan said in the WeChat post. Neither Starbucks nor China’s Foreign Ministry immediately responded to requests for comment. China is in the middle of its week-long national day holiday.
