Volkswagen Says Xinjiang Staff Didn't Receive 'Military Education'
November 26 2019 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Max Bernhard
Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) said Tuesday that employees in Xinjiang,
China, haven't received any military education while working at the
car maker's plant in the region, but didn't deny a local
partnership with the People's Armed Police Force, which has been
linked to China's crackdown on ethnic minorities.
"There was and is no military education for the workers" at the
plant in Urumqi, Volkswagen said in a statement in response to a
report by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Urumqi, in the
northwest of China, is the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur
Autonomous Region, which has a significant Muslim population.
The German car maker started operations at the site in 2013.
Chinese authorities have detained as many as a million Muslims
in a network of internment camps, according to estimates by experts
working for the United Nations, while others are subject to mass
digital surveillance.
Volkswagen operates the plant in Urumqi as a joint-venture with
state-owned SAIC Motor Corporation Ltd. The plant has an agreement
with the People's Armed Police, a paramilitary police force,
Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported. The agreement provides for
"patriotic education" and "military training" for new plant
employees, the report says, citing Chinese media and a press
release by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Volkswagen has previously faced criticism about its human rights
track record, including earlier this year, when Chief Executive
Herbert Diess said that he was "not aware" of China's treatment of
Uighurs in the region, in an interview with the British
Broadcasting Corp.
Write to Max Bernhard at max.bernhard@dowjones.com;
@mxbernhard
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 26, 2019 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
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