Tesla criticised for opening showroom in Xinjiang despite human rights abuses

Tesla has opened a new showroom in the capital of Xinjiang, a region at the heart of years-long campaign by Chinese authorities of repression and assimilation against the Uyghur people.

The US has enacted a range of sanctions and regulatory and other measures against China over its continuing human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including restrictions on US business dealings with local operators and suppliers.

President Joe Biden last month signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, and the US government intends to conduct a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.

Tesla has been contacted for comment.

Companies including H&M and Intel have been widely criticised or threatened with boycotts in China over their decisions to distance the brand from Xinjiang labour and products. Case studies of such mass online reactions have found the nationalistic backlash is often driven or amplified by Chinese state media and state-linked social media accounts.

Xinjiang is the site of a long campaign of forced assimilation by Chinese authorities against ethnic minorities including Muslim Uyghurs. As many as one million people are estimated to have been detained in mass detention and reeducation centres, and the broader population subjected to suppression of religious and cultural activity, intense surveillance and policing, alleged forced labour programs and enforced birth control.

Governments including the US have declared the campaign to be genocide, while several human rights and legal groups have said the actions amount to crimes against humanity.

Beijing denies all accusations of human rights abuses, and says its policies are part of anti-terrorism efforts and poverty alleviation programs.