Xinjiang lie won't spare US companies

The New York Times recently carried a photograph posted on the social media account of Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal Industry Group, showing 70 Uygur workers standing under the Chinese national flag expressing their love for China and the Communist Party of China. But it went on to say that this was "no ordinary worker orientation", but something to cover the "forced labor" in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

As always, it did that without ever visiting the place, let alone interviewing any of the 70 workers. It next turned its focus on the fact that China produces three-fourth of the world's lithium-ion batteries, mostly in Xinjiang, implying a call for the West to "boycott" it.

Years after anti-China German scholar Adrian Zenz fabricated the lie about Xinjiang, the witch hunt of Xinjiang products continues, be it sport brands, photovoltaic batteries, imported food, and now new energy vehicles and the lithium-ion batteries they use. Anybody who owns a Tesla share, better be careful.