Tesla opened a showroom in China’s Xinjiang province, it announced late last week. The company has received widespread criticism for the decision — and rightfully so. Tesla should close the showroom immediately.
Xinjiang is the region of China where most Uyghur Muslims live. The Chinese government has more than 1 million Uyghurs in concentration camps and is trying to reduce the Uyghur population with forced sterilization, IUDs, and abortion. These tactics deserve condemnation from the Right and the Left alike. Regardless of how one feels about abortions, we should at least agree that governments shouldn’t force them on one group of people for eugenic reasons.
Thankfully, the U.S. government recognizes the problem with the treatment of the Uyghur people by the Chinese government. Last month, President Joe Biden signed a law banning nearly all imports from Xinjiang; every U.S. senator voted in favor of it.
Meanwhile, the corporate welfare queens at Tesla can’t bother to show respect for human rights. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, is the richest man on Earth. He has benefited and continues to benefit massively from government subsidies that shouldn’t exist in the first place, including an electric vehicle tax credit that benefits the wealthy and a federal loan guarantee to create electric vehicles. Not to mention, SolarCity benefits from solar panel tax credits, and SpaceX gets most of its contracts from the federal government.
Financially, Tesla is doing fine. The company’s stock was worth under $100 per share in April 2020. Now, it’s worth more than $1,100 per share. It can do business in many parts of the world and become even more lucrative. However, Xinjiang is one market it should avoid, as should other companies.
Of Tesla’s decision, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted, “Nationless corporations are helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up genocide and slave labor in the region.”
Rubio summarized it well. Doing business in Xinjiang isn’t in America’s best interest. Musk and Tesla are legitimizing the Chinese government by doing business there. It’s a mistake, and hopefully, they do what’s right and abandon the facility.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts. He is also a freelance writer who has been published in USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other outlets.
