_paragraph–size-medium–spacing-normal”>Volkswagen have a history with forced labour, of course. The company was founded by the Nazis in 1937 and used slave labour including concentration camp prisoners in its factories during WW2. The Führer himself was an early fan of the Beetle:
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Their decision to continue operations in Xinjiang has clearly been determined less on moral considerations or, god forbid, shame about their history, than on the fact that VW is responsible for some 20% of all vehicle sales in China. They've got too much to lose to think about displeasing the Chinese authorities.
Perhaps we consumers could help out here in our own small way, as Maass suggests:
But in the end, it is us as consumers who will influence the fate of the millions of people in Xinjiang. For many in the West it has become normal to boycott products that violate animal rights or destroy our environment. It is time that we apply the same standards to slave labour and gross human rights violations when we are about to buy a product labelled ‘Made in China’.
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