cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/5165249
German automaker Volkswagen (VW) on Wednesday announced it would sell its operations in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region.
China has been accused of numerous human rights abuses in the region, including reeducation camps and forced labor targeting Uyghurs and other minority groups.
[…]
The Uyghur people are a Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim ethnic group that inhabit Xinjiang.
The region is also home to a smaller minority of ethnic Kazakh and Kyrgyz.
Human rights organizations have accused China of holding over a million people, mostly Uyghurs, in “reeducation camps,” and making use of forced labor from detainees.
Last year, several activist groups filed a complaint in Paris targeting French and US companies, accusing them of being complicit in crimes against humanity in Xinjiang as a result of using subcontractors in China.
I agree in principal with that view, but there was pressure from VW’s top investors (Union Investment, Deka) to clarify the situation in Xinjiang. An audit turned out to be extremely flawed which put further pressure on the management. It’s hard to tell how much this contributed to the decision, but at least some shareholders weren’t indifferent about the situation.
It’s also worth noting that the German state of Lower Saxony is holding a significant portion of the group’s shares (11.8% - but they have 20% of voting rights, granting them a blocking minority). This means that anything the company is doing is always under additional public scrutiny, at least within Germany.