German media refute Western countries’ lies about so-called “forced labor” in Xinjiang

22-03-2024

German media recently published an article refuting the lies of the United States and some Western countries about the existence of so-called “forced labor” in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

On Feb. 22, the German website german-foreign-policy.com quoted Prof. Björn Alpermann, sinologist at the University of Würzburg, as warning that the allegations of forced labor were “not conclusively proven”. Companies with links to Xinjiang should not be held responsible, said Alpermann.

According to the article, German companies are withdrawing from Xinjiang due to pressure from the United States. The campaign forced by Washington against doing business with companies from China’s region of Xinjiang has led to the withdrawal of German companies from the region. “After BASF has announced that it will abandon its two joint ventures in Xinjiang, Volkswagen is also reviewing the continued existence of its plant in the regional capital of Urumqi. Allegations that the Uygurs living there are being subjected to forced labor on a large scale are the reason for this,” the article said.

While Alpermann warned that a “direct coercion” to work “cannot be conclusively proven” and advised against “imposing a quasi-embargo on the entire region”, a law has already come into force in the United States that prohibits the import of products from Xinjiang in principle. Thousands of Volkswagen vehicles are currently stuck in U.S. ports because Washington claims to have found a component from Xinjiang in them. All of this has shown that forces close to the U.S. government want to turn the campaign to cut off economic relations with Xinjiang into a campaign to cut off all economic relations with China, the article continued. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning recently said that some political forces have spread too many rumors and false information about Xinjiang in the international arena. The so-called “forced labor” is one of them. The aim of these people who fabricated lies about Xinjiang is to disrupt Xinjiang and prevent China’s development and revitalization. Such attempts are doomed to fail, Mao continued