Starbucks-branded stores have opened in China’s Xinjiang region for the first time, prompting the chairman of a House committee focused on China to call on the company to close the locations over the communist regime’s treatment of Uyghurs.
Two Starbucks-branded stores opened in Urumqi on Sept. 29, according to Chinese Embassy and the company’s official China store locator. One is at the city’s Grand Bazaar and the other is at Urumqi Tianshan International Airport.
Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, criticized the openings on Oct. 1 and called on Starbucks to close the stores. The committee said the company had opened stores in a region where the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has carried out abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.
“This is a shocking and morally bankrupt decision by a company that prides itself on social responsibility,” Moolenaar said. He said there was “no justifiable reason” for an American company to operate in a region where the CCP has detained more than a million Uyghurs and is stripping them of their faith, language, and culture.
“Every cup sold in these stores ties an iconic American brand to the CCP’s brutal campaign against the Uyghurs,” he said. “Starbucks should immediately reverse course and close its stores in Xinjiang.”
Chinese Embassy Touts ‘Debut’
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Liu Chang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, promoted the openings on X, calling them Starbucks’ “debut” in Xinjiang and “another step in its China expansion.”
Liu said the Grand Bazaar store incorporates bazaar-inspired design, Atlas silk, ethnic musical instruments, and local flavors, including milk-skin salty milk tea.
An accompanying Chinese Embassy graphic said Starbucks had 8,342 stores in mainland China and described China as the company’s second-largest market after the United States.
The House committee later responded directly to Starbucks on X, accusing the CCP of using the company as propaganda to obscure murder, forced labor, and other human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Closings in North America
Under the agreement finalized April 2, funds managed by Boyu hold a 60 percent stake in Starbucks China’s retail operations, while Starbucks retains a 40 percent ownership interest and continues to own and license the Starbucks brand and intellectual property to the venture.
At the time the venture closed, it oversaw approximately 8,000 Starbucks coffeehouses in China, which Starbucks said would transition to a licensed operating model. Starbucks and Boyu aim to grow the network to as many as 20,000 locations.
The China expansion comes as Starbucks is closing about 250 coffeehouses in North America. The company said on Sept. 24 that the closures represent about 1 percent of its more than 18,000 North American locations.
Starbucks has separately said it plans to accelerate its international footprint faster than its North American network over time, with China expected to account for a substantial share of that expansion.
“By combining Starbucks’ trusted global brand with Boyu’s deep local expertise, we are positioning the business to serve more customers, enter more cities, and strengthen our leadership in a dynamic and evolving market,” Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said when the China venture closed.
Human Rights Concerns
In January 2021, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo determined that China, under the direction and control of the CCP, had committed genocide against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups.
A 2022 assessment by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights found that serious human rights violations had occurred in Xinjiang and said the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.
The Epoch Times contacted Starbucks on Oct. 1 for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
