BEIJING: An advocacy group and US lawmakers criticised Starbucks for opening its first cafes in China's Xinjiang, where activists and foreign governments have alleged widespread rights abuses against the region's Muslim Uyghur population.
The American coffee giant opened two stores in Urumqi, the regional capital, on Tuesday, in a move heralded by Chinese state media outlets.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the US House Select Committee on China, called the development "morally bankrupt" in a statement on Thursday.
The stores' opening "ties an iconic American brand to the CCP's brutal campaign against the Uyghurs" he said, referring to the governing Chinese Communist Party.
