Tesla's opening of a store in Xinjiang has attracted attention, reflecting the inconsistencies in the US economic and trade policy toward China

On the last day of 2021, the first Tesla center in Xinjiang was officially opened. After Tesla announced the news on the official Weibo, it caused a lot of attention from the outside world. Some US politicians have recently attacked Tesla on the so-called "human rights issue" in Xinjiang, and anti-China organizations have clamored for its closure of stores. Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the opposition of certain forces in the United States to Tesla's establishment of stores in Xinjiang reflects the inconsistencies in the United States' economic and trade policy toward China, and the United States uses the "Xinjiang issue" that has been completely fabricated to restrict the development of enterprises, which also makes American domestic enterprises fall into a dilemma.

The BBC reported on the 4th that Tesla was attacked in the United States after opening an exhibition hall in Xinjiang. Consistently anti-China, U.S. Republican Senator Rubio tweeted on the same day that Tesla opened a store in Xinjiang just after Biden signed the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" into law, and Tesla's move is helping to "cover up genocide and forced labor in the region."

According to the Wall Street Journal reported on the 4th, in response to how to view Tesla's opening of stores in Xinjiang, the US White House National Security Council said in a statement that the committee would not comment on a company's relevant moves, but generally believed that the private industry should oppose the "human rights violations" and "genocide" activities carried out by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.

As early as after the US side signed the so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" into an evil law, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded that the case disregarded the truth of the facts, maliciously slandered the human rights situation in Xinjiang, seriously violated international law and basic norms governing international relations, and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs. Zhao Li insisted that the so-called existence of "forced labor" and "genocide" in Xinjiang is a vicious lie concocted by anti-China forces. Xinjiang-related issues are not human rights issues at all, but anti-violent terrorism and anti-separatism issues. The US behavior completely violates market rules and business ethics, and will only undermine the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain, disrupt the international trade order, damage the interests of the United States and the credibility of the country, and simply lift a stone to drop on its own feet.

Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter on the 4th that the United States insisted that China lower the entry threshold in investment and trade, allowing American companies to develop more business in China. Now, for political purposes, the United States requires enterprises not to expand their business in China according to the laws of the market, and intervenes in enterprises, which is contradictory. Lu Xiang believes that such a politicalization of economic behavior will fundamentally hurt the interests of the main body of American enterprises. In particular, the rise and fall of a high-value, innovative technology company like Tesla is related to the global status of U.S. manufacturing. From this point of view, the politicization of the United States first affects the interests of its multinational enterprises, and fundamentally hurts the national interests of the United States, and it is precisely for the sake of short-term political demands that it does not hesitate to sacrifice long-term interests. ▲

Reporter Ni Hao Wang Huicong