Beijing — China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that a U.S. congressional committee had fabricated accusations after its chairman urged Starbucks to close two recently opened cafés in Xinjiang, citing alleged human‑rights violations.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on China, described the opening of the Starbucks outlets in Urumqi on Tuesday as “morally bankrupt” and urged the coffee chain to shut them down, noting they are the brand’s first locations in the region.
He added that the launch links an iconic American brand to what he described as the Chinese Communist Party’s harsh campaign against the Uyghur population.
Activists and several foreign governments have accused Chinese authorities of systematic rights abuses against Xinjiang’s mainly Muslim Uyghur minority, a situation the United States has characterized as genocide.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the committee habitually invents baseless claims for political ends to attack and smear China.
“The alleged ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang is an outright lie,” he stated.
In 2022 the United Nations warned that the region may be witnessing crimes against humanity, noting the detention of over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps.
Human‑rights organizations report that serious abuses, including forced labor, persist in Xinjiang.
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