“Morally bankrupt”? Was Michigan Republican John Moolenaar talking about himself? Last week, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China demanded that Starbucks “immediately reverse course and close its stores”.
The coffee chain’s crime? It opened two stores in Urumqi – the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – in the city centre’s Grand Bazaar and its international airport. The way Moolenaar talked about it, you would think Starbucks was committing genocide and crimes against humanity, or at least being complicit in them.
A committee press release said: “This week, Starbucks opened stores in Xinjiang, the Chinese region where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing genocide against Uygurs and other minorities.”