The German chemicals producer BASF “appears to be implicated in gross abuses” of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and should withdraw from the Chinese province, a group of politicians from around the world have said.
The group made the allegation in a letter to BASF’s chair, Martin Brudermüller, on Monday, after the German media outlets Der Spiegel and ZDF published a joint investigation on Friday.
The investigation found that in 2018 and 2019 people employed by BASF’s Chinese partner company, Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry, in Xinjiang accompanied Chinese state officials on home visits to Uyghur households, as part of a government initiative that human rights groups have said is used to spy on people and indoctrinate them.
The visits were part of the fanghuiju campaign, in which officials from government agencies, state-owned enterprises and public institutions in Xinjiang visit Uyghurs and other minorities at home to collect information and monitor people’s behaviour.
Human Rights Watch has described fanghuiju visits as invasive and said that “families are required to provide officials with information about their lives and political views, and are subjected to political indoctrination”.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The German chemicals producer BASF “appears to be implicated in gross abuses” of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and should withdraw from the Chinese province, a group of politicians from around the world have said.
The group made the allegation in a letter to BASF’s chair, Martin Brudermüller, on Monday, after the German media outlets Der Spiegel and ZDF published a joint investigation on Friday.
The letter sent on Monday, signed by more than 30 politicians, said: “The reports [in the German media] indicate the shocking degree to which your company appears to be implicated in gross abuses of the Uyghur and other predominantly Turkic minorities in the region.
Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim Turkic ethnic group, have long had a fractious relationship with Beijing, which accuses many of them of wanting to break away from Chinese rule.
Its signatories included the German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer and the British MP Iain Duncan Smith, as well as legislators from Ukraine, New Zealand, Canada and Belgium, among other countries.
Sarah Champion, a British Labour MP and IPAC member, said: “Companies cannot pretend to be surprised that atrocities are being committed against Uyghurs and other minorities in the region.
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