Despite the announcement of major plans for the nation and the establishment of electrification models that will help Beijing gradually shift to electronic transportation, anger rises against Musk for his recent ventures.

So what exactly did Elon Musk do to deal with this backlash? Indian express have a look.

Tesla and its new showroom in Xinjiang

Electric car maker Tesla has drawn criticism from activists after it opened a showroom in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region, where Chinese officials have conducted a crackdown on the Uyghurs. Recently, the automaker announced the opening of the new showroom on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with the message, “Let’s start the all-electric journey of Xinjiang!” Press Agency Associated press reported.

The announcement was condemned by groups of Muslim activists. “No American company should do business in an area that is the focal point of a campaign of genocide targeting a religious and ethnic minority,” said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a statement. “Elon Musk and Tesla must close this new showroom and cease what amounts to economic support for the genocide.”

It came at a time when a law passed by US President Joe Biden aimed to prevent goods manufactured by Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups subjected to forced labor in Xinjiang Province from entering the United States. Senator Marco Rubio, who was at the forefront of drafting the law, took to Twitter to criticize Tesla’s decision. “Non-nationality companies are helping the Chinese Communist Party to cover up the genocide and forced labor in the region,” he tweeted.

In addition, in early December, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Olympics, citing the “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang”.

Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla in Berlin. (Hannibal Hanschke / Pool Photo via AP, File)

What’s China’s beef with SpaceX?

Following allegations that SpaceX satellites threaten the security of the Chinese space station, calls for sanctions have been made against Elon Musk’s company.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a routine press conference on Tuesday that China informed the United Nations on December 3 of two “close encounters” this year between the Starlink satellites of SpaceX and the Chinese space station. The space station, known as Tiangong, carried out evasive maneuvers on July 1 and October 21 to avoid collisions with satellites, according to the document Beijing submitted to the UN. “The United States claims to be a strong supporter of the concept of ‘responsible behavior in space’, but it has disregarded its treaty and posed a serious threat to the safety of astronauts,” Zhao said, with reference to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

Beijing’s complaint received wide coverage in state media, stoking public outrage against Musk and his companies. China’s national broadcaster CCTV posted a video blowing up SpaceX on Tuesday, with the hashtag “The United States is bringing its double standards to space.”

Some Chinese commentators have even suggested that China may be able to speed up its own satellite deployments to compete with Musk.

Are Tesla and SpaceX the only companies to have faced such problems?

American businesses have recently come under a lot of pressure, both from Western organizations and consumers, as well as from the Chinese government, to take sides on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and the persecution of Uyghurs.

Walmart had been criticized by the Chinese anti-corruption watchdog after the retail giant pulled products made in Xinjiang from its China-based stores and Sam’s Club. The agency said in a statement that the company had no “justifiable reason” for stopping the sale of products from an entire region, adding that the decision showed “stupidity and myopia.” “China is Walmart’s second largest overseas market, if they want to stand firmly in the Chinese market, they must show sufficient sincerity and attitude, respect the facts, distinguish the good from the wrong, uphold China’s principles and the feelings of Chinese citizens, “the agency wrote. “Otherwise, Chinese citizens and consumers will use their actions to react resolutely. “

Prior to Walmart’s break-in, Intel apologized to the Chinese public for a public letter to its suppliers asking them to refrain from sourcing from Xinjiang. In March, H&M of Hennes & Mauritz AB found that its presence had been wiped out of major Chinese e-commerce, ridesharing, daily deals and card apps, after the Swedish clothing brand decided to stop selling. sourcing from China’s Xinjiang region.

Uyghurs and China

The Uyghurs are a nomadic Turkish people originally from the Xinjiang region in northwest China. Many Uyghurs are Muslims, and their faith has put them at odds with the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party.

China cites sporadic terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and a Uyghur independence movement as the justification for the crackdown. Uyghur activists claim that years of state-sponsored oppression and discrimination against Uyghurs fueled grassroots anger against the government. Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and the majority Han people in China have long simmered in the region, sometimes leading to violence. In 2009, the capital of Xinjiang, Urumqi, was rocked by riots, killing 197 people and injuring many.

In 2017, Xinjiang launched a massive political re-education program, with more than one million Uyghurs from all walks of life in detention. The Xinjiang government also deployed a high-tech surveillance system throughout the region that tracked the movements of Uyghurs through police checkpoints, facial recognition cameras, and home visits by officials.

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