China was recently sanctioned by the United States, Canada, Britain, Netherlands, and the European Union for their part in genocide and human rights abuses of Uighurs, but U.S. corporations are mostly quiet on criticizing the economic power.
These governments placed coordinated sanctions March 22 against various Chinese officials for these violations committed against the Uighurs, making China accountable for these human rights abuses, Politico reported.
The Daily Caller reported it initiated contact with various U.S. corporations who rely on China as part of their business model. They said they contacted companies such as Amazon, Tesla, Procter and Gamble, Boeing, Disney, Ford, General Motors, and Starbucks to obtain a position statement in light of the sanctions and the atrocities allegedly being committed by the Chinese against the Uighurs, however, the Daily Caller reports it received no new comments.
Nike and Under Armour directed them to previously issued company statements.
“Under Armour is deeply concerned by credible reports of forced labor and other abuses in, and outside, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),” Under Armour’s statement read. “As the reported and specific circumstances preclude the effective use of third-party audits to assess whether such abuses are occurring, Under Armour is employing measures to mitigate the risk of such abuses occurring in, or being linked to, our supply chain.”
Nike likewise responded by pointing reporters to its own similar statement.
Neither statement obtained however, specifically addresses the imposition of new sanctions issue.
Uighurs are people of mostly Muslim origin, and they speak their own language (not mainstream Chinese) which is similar to the Turkish language. Twelve million Uighurs live in north-western China in the region of Xinjiang, however, they make up less than half of the Xinjiang population, according to BBC News.
Along with accusations of genocide, China has also been accused of mass sterilization of Uighur women to eliminate population growth, as well as holding other Uighurs in “counterextremism centers” in Xinjiang, a UN human rights committee in 2018 said. Genocide is generally defined by the United Nations (UN) as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
“The United States reiterates its calls on the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to bring an end to the repression of Uighurs, who are predominantly Muslim, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, including by releasing all those arbitrarily held in internment camps and detention facilities,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
“These actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to working multilaterally to advance respect for human rights and shining a light on those in the PRC government and CCP [Chinese Communist Party] responsible for these atrocities.”
Source: Newmax
