Germany’s Volkswagen, which is actively promoting electric vehicles and expects to gain market share in China, opened its plant in Xinjiang Urumqi, China in 2013. However, the company has had to respond to questions about the ongoing controversy over forced labor in Xinjiang.
Volkswagen has a plant in Urumqi, Xinjiang. werkseinfahrt
Stephan Woelleinstein, head of the German carmaker’s China operations, told reporters in Shanghai on Sunday that the group’s code of conduct applies to the Volkswagen plant in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and that the same applies to its other plants and its suppliers in China, according to the German news agency. He said:Â “A topic as much criticized as forced labor cannot exist in our plant because we are directly employing employees.”
In 2013, Volkswagen opened its plant in Urumqi, Xinjiang. The company had told Deutsche Welle that its decision to open the plant in Urumqi was “purely based on economics” and said they were looking forward to “economic growth in the region in the coming years.”
Speaking before the start of the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show on Monday, Wallinstein said the “diversity” approach also addresses the employment of ethnic minorities and that it “does not discriminate in any way”.
Wallingstein noted that the world’s “political climate is clearly tightening” and that it is a fact that China’s reputation is suffering, “and it will criticize us at some point, which of course we cannot dismiss out of hand.”
“We have made it clear that we have to stick with our operations in China, and we will stick with them as long as we believe that the investment in Xinjiang is viable from an economic perspective.”
Human rights groups have speculated that hundreds of thousands of Uighurs are being held in re-education camps in Xinjiang. But China denies the allegations, saying they are simply being put into “training centers. There have also been recent and growing allegations in the international community of forced labor in the Xinjiang region.
Uighurs have been oppressed by Han Chinese rulers in Xinjiang. The Communist Party incorporated the former East Turkestan into the People’s Republic of China in 1949 after it came to power. Beijing also accuses Uighur groups of waging terrorism and separatism.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, hopes its electric car market share in China will soon reach about 15 percent, which would equal its current share of standard gasoline-powered cars sold in the Chinese auto market.
Wallingstein said Sunday, “Volkswagen has a solid history of getting that much more bang for the buck, even though we’re a little late to the China market.” Volkswagen recently announced massive plans to shift from fuel engines to electric and other forms of powered vehicles. Companies like Tesla already have a big lead in related areas, but Volkswagen has vowed to catch up, which is crucial for China, the world’s largest auto market.
At the show, Volkswagen presented the ID.6 X and the Crozz, two electric vehicles that will only be produced in China. VW’s current share of China’s electric car market is about 3 to 4 percent, and Wallingstein said they have a “great chance” of reaching double digits this year. He said he wants to aim to sell more than 100,000 electric cars in China this year.
Wallingstein said his company is actually less focused on market share than on furthering the development of electric vehicle technology, so Volkswagen will invest 15 billion euros in China’s technology sector over the next four years. He stressed, “It will take us two to three years to get ahead of Tesla.”
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