January 9, 2022

The U.S. tech giant Intel removed all references to forced labour in Xinjiang, China, from its letter to suppliers following strong opposition from China.

In December 2021, Intel, through a letter written by Vice President Jackie Sturm, had encouraged suppliers to refrain from sourcing from the Xinjiang region, where the Uyghur Muslim minority resides, citing the company’s policies against forced labour.

“Multiple governments have imposed restrictions on products sourced from the Xinjiang region,” Sturm wrote. “Therefore, Intel is required to ensure our supply chain does not use any labour or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region.”

However, the tech giant has now removed all mentions of Xinjiang from its supplier letter because, after the letter’s publication, Intel faced criticism from various state-linked entities in China and numerous users on Chinese social media platforms.

In response to the backlash, the tech giant issued the following apology statement on its Chinese social media accounts on December 23 2021, acknowledging the need to address concerns about the language used in the letter.

“We deeply apologize for the confusion caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public. We recently issued a statement in China to address concerns raised by our stakeholders there regarding how we communicated certain legal requirements and policies with our global supplier network. We will continue to ensure that our global sourcing complies with applicable laws and regulations in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions where we operate.”