(FreedomBeacon.com)- While the US has barred the import of products from the Xinjiang province of China, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced that it has opened a new showroom in Xinjiang.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the new showroom from his Weibo account on New Year’s Eve. Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter.
Musk posted photos of the showroom’s grand opening showing people posing with signs reading “Tesla *hearts* Xinjiang.” In his post, Musk wrote, “In 2022, let us together launch Xinjiang on its electric journey!”
It is in the Xinjiang province of China that ethnic minorities, including Muslim Uyghurs, are held in state-run internment camps. Western countries have accused China of practicing genocide, torture, and slave labor in the Xinjiang region.
China has denied the allegations and has lashed back at companies doing business in China who dare to even criticize its human rights record.
In December, the US chipmaker Intel apologized to Beijing after it ordered its suppliers to stop using components made in the Xinjiang region. Intel expressed “deep regret” for offending China and blamed its decision on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden.
Upon hearing the news that Tesla opened a showroom in Xinjiang, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who co-wrote the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, blasted Tesla and other “nationless corporations” for helping the Communist regime cover up its genocide and slave labor in Xinjiang.
Musk and Tesla have had a long profitable relationship with Communist China. And like many American corporations eager to tap the lucrative Chinese market, that relationship requires Tesla to turn a blind eye to Beijing’s human rights abuses.
In January of last year, Elon Musk told Business Insider that he always had a positive experience working with China, and even suggested that Beijing is “possibly” “more responsible” for its citizens’ happiness than America is.
Last year, US lawmakers attempted to block NASA from awarding a contract to Musk’s SpaceX, citing national security concerns over Tesla’s close relationship with China.
