Volkswagen CEO 'not aware’ of Uighurs detained in China’s Xinjiang, despite having a factory there

By Rick Noack Rick Noack Foreign affairs reporter focusing on Europe and international security Email Bio Follow April 17 at 8:50 AM BERLIN — As a company rooted in Nazi Germany, German car manufacturer Volkswagen might be expected to have a somewhat more sensitive approach to ethics than its competitors.

China has conducted a sweeping campaign to suppress Uighur identity in the region of Xinjiang in recent years, which has also included putting further restrictions on the practice of Islam. As many as 1 million Uighurs, besides members of other minority groups, are believed to be held without charges in internment camps. The camps have marked an escalation in tensions that have existed for decades between the staunchly secular Chinese government and Uighurs.

“For the whole Volkswagen Group, respecting human rights is one of the fundamental basic principles for all business relationships,” a statement read. His most recent China-related remarks to the BBC are likely to be cited by human rights groups as an extreme example of a Western corporation’s willingness to look the other way when it comes to alleged Chinese human rights abuses.

“We hire our employees based on merit, regardless of their gender, age, religious beliefs and ethnicity. Everyone has the same chance to apply for a job. No one is excluded. Our Xin Jiang plant applies the same principle,” the company said in a statement.

AntiTrumpReport Uh...I was a student in China in 1997. *I* knew that Uighurs were persecuted. It was/is pretty well known.

How can't u be

VW has long traditions of prison labor

Germs never aware of anything. They just follow orders...

CEOs don't care about human rights they only care about their bottom line

Boycott Volkswagen!

Hypocrisy is the only way to do business in China!🙄👎

Slave labor, massive subsidizes, communist overlords. Why are we making deals with these people again? Does anyone realize how insane we are being?

That’s a GAZ factory in Nizhny Novgorod, owned by Deripaska, not by VW

In a terrorism infested region just a decade ago, now peace and prosperity reigns. Why can't the rest of world accomplish that?

Didn’t our attorney General Barr yesterday sign an order that effectively keeps refugees in detention indefinitely? Who are we kidding?

The German government owes me 100 billion US dollars. Most of the money was given to me by companies like Volkswagen Germany.

The cult model, driver's cabin, like a dream.

cheap labor over human rights, sounds ethical to me

Of course, this is the same company that had to pay billions of dollars for cheating and lying about poisoning the environment just a few years ago, so what a million lives, more or less.

This allowed for the importation of Han Chinese to take the jobs. This allows for cross pollination to remove the Uigher identity.

It’s Volkswagen, they’re adept at ignoring evil.

Is he aware of GITMO?

We do build factories in US, do we ? Any difference ?

Volkswagen has made this mistake before...

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