Call against Starbucks shows stupidity of US lawmakers

A young Uygur woman I chatted with on Monday in Aksu, a city in southern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was outraged by the call of some United States lawmakers for Starbucks to close its two newly opened outlets in the region's capital Urumqi.

The 24-year-old, a passionate cyclist and veterinary medicine major preparing for admission exams to China Agricultural University, viewed the call as a profound disrespect to the Uygur people because it suggested "we do not even deserve to drink coffee".

She went on to lambaste the US ban on cotton exports from Xinjiang as an unjust punishment for the Uygur people.

Xinjiang accounts for one-fifth of global cotton output, with Aksu renowned for its high-quality cotton.

As I traveled from Kashgar to Aksu and then to Korla during the past few days, I saw numerous trucks carrying cotton bales from vast cotton fields, where harvesting is mostly done by machines.

The huge army of migrant workers from other provinces picking cotton by hand has become a distant memory.

US lawmakers, such as Congressman John Moolenaar from Michigan, seem to lack a genuine understanding of the reality of Xinjiang.

It is laughable that Moolenaar, who has never visited the Chinese mainland, is the chairman of the House Select Committee on China. Unfortunately, these lawmakers use vicious anti-China rhetoric to score political points and fool American voters in the US despite the absurdity of their claims.

Moolenaar branded Starbucks "morally bankrupt" for opening its two outlets in Urumqi. But the allegations of genocide of the Uygur people and other minorities, as claimed by Moolenaar, are totally fabricated.

I spoke to numerous Tibetans and Uygurs during my travels in the regions over the past few months and consistently found these allegations to be baseless.

It is Day 40 of my driving trip across Xinjiang, which will conclude in Hami in eastern Xinjiang next week.

The open secret is that Moolenaar and most of his fellow lawmakers on the China Select Committee have been staunch backers of Israel's Gaza campaign — which has killed over 74,000 Palestinians, a majority of them women, children, and the elderly. While Moolenaar opposes Starbucks opening outlets in Xinjiang, he has not opposed the proposed transfer of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel for use in Gaza.

I visited Urumqi twice, but both times before the Starbucks opening on Sept 29. There I explored the airport and the historic and touristy Grand Bazaar. The Starbucks outlets are indeed attractive, and integrate many features of the Uygur culture, music and tradition in their unique designs.

For example, the Twelve Muqam show, a traditional Uygur music and dance performance I watched in Shache, was fascinating.

Uygur people are talented dancers and the vibrant square dance I saw in various cities at night included people from various ethnic groups, as well as tourists like me. The beautiful Etles silk, which is typical of Xinjiang, is also featured in the new Starbucks outlets.

All this makes me wonder if I should drive two and a half hours from Turpan to Urumqi again just to visit the new Starbucks outlets there.

To be honest, Urumqi and many other cities in Xinjiang boast numerous boutique coffee shops that offer excellent coffee, rivaling that of Starbucks, Costa and Luckin.

Politicians such as Moolenaar would do well to visit China rather than make a fool of themselves in their relentless smear campaigns against the country. Such actions not only disrespect the Uygur people or China but also the US voters they represent.

That is probably why American people don't seem to take these politicians seriously.

The latest Gallup poll shows that the approval rating for the US Congress was only 16 percent in July.

It is time for these lawmakers to wake up and smell the coffee.

The author is a China Daily columnist.

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn