Press Release
National Center for Public Policy Research Free Enterprise Project (FEP)
Free Enterprise Project Demands Coffee Giant Close New Xinjiang Stores Days After Filing Forced-Labor Shareholder Proposal
Washington, D.C. — Just days after the National Center for Public Policy Research filed a shareholder proposal pressing Starbucks to disclose its exposure to forced labor in Chinese solar supply chains, the coffee giant opened its first stores in Xinjiang, the region at the center of longstanding allegations of forced labor and human rights abuses against the Uyghur population.
Now the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project (FEP) is demanding that Starbucks close the stores and explain to shareholders why company management chose to expand into Xinjiang.
“It is appalling that Starbucks is now selling coffee to Chinese Communist Party elites as they commit crimes against humanity and ethnic genocide,” said FEP Executive Director Steve Milloy in an October 2 letter to Starbucks.
Milloy called on Starbucks to “immediately close its stores in the Xinjiang region” and asked the company’s board of directors to investigate and report to shareholders why management opened stores there. He requested a board response within 30 days.
