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Intel China

Intel Apologizes In China Over Xinjiang Statement (cnn.com) 156

AltMachine writes: Intel has apologized in China following a backlash over a directive to suppliers not to source products or labor from the Xinjiang region where "forced labors" are allegedly occurring, though critics pointed out that the claims are based on dubious researches made by groups with backing from China's geopolitical rivals US and NATO. "Although our original intention was to ensure compliance with US laws, this letter has caused many questions and concerns among our cherished Chinese partners, which we deeply regret," the company said in a statement on Weibo, a Twitter-like service. In the statement, Intel explicitly denies taking any position on the controversial matters. Chinese pop star Wang Junkai, the brand ambassador for Intel Core, announced Wednesday that he had cut all ties with Intel over its statement, saying "national interests are above all else." On Thursday, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said that "claims related to Xinjiang, such as forced labor" are "lies by US's anti-China forces." In an email to CNN Business, an Intel spokesperson said the company would continue to ensure its global sourcing complies with applicable laws and regulations in the United States and in other jurisdictions.
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Intel Apologizes In China Over Xinjiang Statement

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  • by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:05PM (#62112627) Homepage

    Shame on you Intel - caving in to the oppressive, totalitarian government in China.

    • by MrL0G1C ( 867445 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:09PM (#62112799) Journal

      Forced labour is just part of the issue too, whole families are imprisoned in squalid conditions to be 're-educated', the females are raped, over a million are in detention camps. Life is also hell for those not in prisons, surveillance levels are extreme.

    • Don't worry. Intel will burnish its independence standing up to the government credentials by asking US Govt to go fly a kite...
    • Oh, cut the crap. Nobody used to give a flying f*ck about forced labour there and nobody would have given a f*ck today if not for WHAT IS Xinjiang.
      First and foremost Xinjiang is the site of all new China ICBM silos including the ones where the transcontinental hypersonic gliders (the analogue of the Russian Avangard) will go. The whole constant drumroll of publications about the horrors of Chinese oppression over the Poor Uigur minority started literally a couple of months since the discovery of the first
      • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @05:00PM (#62112995)

        Nobody used to give a flying f*ck about forced labour there

        Regardless of why the plight of the Uigur was uncovered, it doesn't mean we should ignore it now because of an initial geopolitical overlay.

        It seems especially poor not only to continue to ignore it, but in fact reward it via toadying behavior and continued investment... even as we try to cancel people and companies that are harmless.

      • by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @05:14PM (#62113051)

        In real world on the other hand, Gulag Archipelago basically destroyed any mainstream credibility Marxism and Communism had for two decades in the West by utterly demolishing any credibility it had.

        • by flink ( 18449 )

          In real world on the other hand, Gulag Archipelago basically destroyed any mainstream credibility Marxism and Communism had for two decades in the West by utterly demolishing any credibility it had.

          Ok, as long as you agree that Guantanamo, immigrant concentration camps on the US southern border, South American death squads under the likes of Pinochet, McCarthyism, the holocaust, the Belgian Congo, the Haymarket Massacre, the Pinkertons, US chattel slavery, etc discredit capitalism. Or we could admit that repressive authoritarianism is orthogonal to the economic system it happens to be practiced adjacent to.

          • by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @09:42PM (#62113529)

            Let's grant you all of those. Every single one. Then let's take the numbers and double them, just to be on the safe side. Then let's even pretend that people in the "immigrant concentration camps" are worked to death gulag style en masse, slowly, in conditions of Soviet Gulags. Every single one of them. And let's even assume that those immigrants were actually citizens of the state.

            Yes, these notions are absurd, because nothing of the sort is happening. But for the sake of argument let's make your utterly awful, anti-truth statement that Soviet Gulags and events you're running your mouth about are pretty much the same thing and assume that it's actually all true.

            And then, let's compare the numbers. And come out with the same conclusion as the original argument I made.

            It is genuinely unfortunate that genocidal far left that was so thoroughly discredited has fallen out of public memory, and that there are modern idiots who genuinely believe there are things that are as horrible as Soviet Gulags going on in places like US right now.

          • In real world on the other hand, Gulag Archipelago basically destroyed any mainstream credibility Marxism and Communism had for two decades in the West by utterly demolishing any credibility it had.

            Ok, as long as you agree that Guantanamo, immigrant concentration camps on the US southern border, South American death squads under the likes of Pinochet, McCarthyism, the holocaust, the Belgian Congo, the Haymarket Massacre, the Pinkertons, US chattel slavery, etc discredit capitalism. Or we could admit that repressive authoritarianism is orthogonal to the economic system it happens to be practiced adjacent to.

            Why would the Holocaust, a crime perpetrated by National Socialist Germany's Worker's Party discredit capitalism?

            • by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Saturday December 25, 2021 @11:43AM (#62114257)

              In real world on the other hand, Gulag Archipelago basically destroyed any mainstream credibility Marxism and Communism had for two decades in the West by utterly demolishing any credibility it had.

              Ok, as long as you agree that Guantanamo, immigrant concentration camps on the US southern border, South American death squads under the likes of Pinochet, McCarthyism, the holocaust, the Belgian Congo, the Haymarket Massacre, the Pinkertons, US chattel slavery, etc discredit capitalism. Or we could admit that repressive authoritarianism is orthogonal to the economic system it happens to be practiced adjacent to.

              Why would the Holocaust, a crime perpetrated by National Socialist Germany's Worker's Party discredit capitalism?

              Because they were capitalist.

              Is the Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea a democracy... or for the people.

              By the way, the Nazis never called themselves Nazis... In fact after the 20's they weren't even the National Socialist party (which in German at the time meant "social" as in community, not as in "socialist", it started out as a workers club that was co-opted by far right racists), by that time they were calling themselves "German". Nazi is a term the German exiles gave them and the media was happy to run with. Oh also, the first targets of the Nazis were the Bolsheviks, the brown shirts beat the crap out of them before the 20s, then they went after the trade unionists (ironic given their origins)... So tell me again how socialist were they... or perhaps you best remain silent lest you demonstrate your ignorance again.

              Also waiting for the professionally offended to get their knickers in a twist over me calling Nazis "racist"... not like that wasn't the only real difference between a Nazi and a regular garden variety Fascist.

            • by ghoul ( 157158 )
              Why is communism being blamed for Xinjiang when its privately owned public stock companies running the forced labor factories?
          • One word: Stalin. When a US government mows down entire cities because one guy says something critical about the President I'll take notice.
          • by ghoul ( 157158 )
            But thats the thing. Communism doesnt work without oppression. People are basically selfish and lazy. Communism assumes people are moral creatures and will do their best irrespective of rewards- from each according to his ability to each according to his need. In reality as soon as people realize you get the same creature comforts irrespective of your work - a doctor gets the same housing as a janitor; people start shirking. It becomes a competition to see who can do the least work for the same amount of c
          • Aside from what others have pointed out about how ridiculous your statement is, let's look at the definitions of the terms, shall we.

            Free market - you offer to build me a table for $150. I accept. You build the table, I pay you the $150. Free market - we are free to engage in market (business) transactions.

            Contrast communism, which defined as the government controls the production of goods, and buying and selling.

            The government tells you you must spend your days making guns, not tables. The government set

      • What do you mean? This was all over the news over a decade ago -

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]Ãoerümqi_riots

        China has always acted poorly with regards to treatment of ethnic minorities, and everybody that doesn't toe the party line, like in Hong Kong.

      • The whole constant drumroll of publications about the horrors of Chinese oppression over the Poor Uigur minority started literally a couple of months since the discovery of the first base on satellite pictures. Prior to that - nobody heard of them.

        Gotta love the multiple lies contained within this quote. !) That there is any connection to the satellite pictures of the ICBM bases 2)That people only got angry about it a couple of months ago. In reality, the argument over it started over a decade ago, and warmed up when satellite pictures of the concentration camps were released several years ago. As for why it is now acceptable to report on it, that is because Trump is no longer in office, and it is now acceptable for the leftist media to mildly criti

      • Factually false (Score:4, Informative)

        by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @10:31PM (#62113599) Journal

        Late 2014:
        First international condemnations of China's actions regarding the Uyghurs.

        July 2019:
          22 countries issue a joint letter to the 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning China's mass detention of Uyghurs and other minorities.

        2021 - they started building the silo field.

        I know you wouldn't intentionally spread lies, so now that you know better I'm sure you'll correct anyone who says bullshit like that.

    • Veronica: "Money before people." That's the company motto. Engraved on the lobby floor. It just looks more heroic in Latin.

    • Shame on Slashdot and msmash. He's been living under a rock for the last five or seven years, or put the summary there intentionally. There are also many shilling Chinese position in the comments. Glad to see most of them voted down, Chinese propaganda has no place on Slashdot.
  • Intel (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:06PM (#62112629)
    Bowing to the CCP
    • Does AMD have an Atom replacement yet? Desktop and server is good enough.

    • All these companies bow to bullies and nasty people

      And governments nice to them will be bullied by these companies.

      And we use the entire might and the faith and credit of the US Government to shore up the stock market and bail out these companies. While inflation is killing the common man in the street, we exclude the cost of food and energy from inflation calculations.

      Once the corporations become more powerful than the government, the threat to our liberty and freedom comes from these corporations, go

    • Re:Intel (Score:4, Informative)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:41PM (#62112935)

      Bowing to the CCP

      Well yes, they make money that way. Why are you surprised? IBM sold PCs to the Nazis. iPhones were assembled with actual modern day slave labour. Those cloths you're wearing, you don't even want to know how the poor child who stitched them together's day went today.

      Corporations serve their self interest and will bow to anyone for a dollar. News at 11.

      • Huh? IBM sold PCs to the Nazis
      • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Corporations serve their customers' interests. You wanted those clothes/iphones/chips cheap and plentiful and didn't care about the details, so somebody made it happen.

        • No, self interest. Don't for a moment think a corporation wouldn't keep prices high while outsourcing to a lower cost supplier if they could get away with it.

          • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

            That's why competition is important.

            • No. Competition doesn't help this at all. In fact it further exacerbates the problem by putting additional pressure to drop costs. Now you're not only dealing with a self interested corporation, but also a self interested customer who very much votes with their wallet, and their wallet is often looking for the cheapest option.

              • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

                I'm not sure if you're purposely missing the point or not.

                Companies are amoral. They do whatever is required to maximize their profits. A critical part of making any profits at all is actually selling stuff. If the company's customers care about how the stuff is made, the company will care about how it's made. If the company has competition, its prices will remain reasonable.

                Many customers care in a theoretical sense if their stuff is made with slave labour, and don't give a flying fig in a practical will-I

                • No you basically made the same point I did. Companies are amoral and as such will try to maximise profit by reducing cost. The presence of competition puts further pressure to on the cost reduction piece since there's not cost competition in the interaction with customers. And then there's the customer...

                  Many customers care in a theoretical sense if their stuff is made with slave labour

                  No they really don't. The smallest of frigging rounding errors of customers care. Customers are overwhelmingly cost sensitive. Beyond them there are customers who are quality sensitive. Very very few happy

                • They do whatever is required to maximize next quarter's share price.

                  FTFY.

  • by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:12PM (#62112643)
    then let international observers in and we’ll see for ourselves how glorious the Chinese miracle is. Oh, you wont let us actually look? Want us to take your word for it? Nope, sorry, not gonna fall for that. That puts you in the same category as the north Korean socialist utopia that they talk about constantly. Dont believe it. Pretty much anyone can come to America and take pictures virtually anywhere (well, at least 99% of the country) and decide for themselves what we’re good at and where we fail.
    • by MrL0G1C ( 867445 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:03PM (#62112783) Journal

      That's been tried, reporters are followed by gangs of unidentified state goons, they are verbally and physically harassed. Uyghurs in China are too scared to talk to Uyghurs outside of China for fear of being branded a subversive and their whole family being locked up. Forced sterilisation is happening to Uyghurs, that is literally genocide.

      So get lost, you're not welcome with propaganda crap here. You're literally supporting genocide, I could Godwin this and not be exaggerating.

      Genocide on Uyghurs in China: https://youtu.be/fRQaxo9lRRQ [youtu.be]

      Reporter harassment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

      Systematic rape of female Uyghurs https://youtu.be/e6bPGl10Cts [youtu.be]

      Dissappeared: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

      43 countries criticize China over Uyghur Muslims' rights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • Get Woke Go Broke? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LarryRiedel ( 141315 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:13PM (#62112645)
    It's inevitable that as multinational corporations descend purity spirals of virtue signalling they're going to run into the dubious claims endemic to geopolitical posturing. Companies like Intel need to decide whether they're going to be global or local and not try to be both, or they're going to keep needlessly getting stuck on both sides of issues they shouldn't need to care about.
    • or they're going to keep needlessly getting stuck on both sides of issues they shouldn't need to care about.

      That's literally why PR departments exist. Getting stuck on both sides of issues is a cost of doing business.

    • or they're going to keep needlessly getting stuck on both sides of issues they shouldn't need to care about.

      We are a product of the times in which we live, and there's no real way around that. Corporations may have fiduciary duties to make the most money for their owners, but people still run those corporations and should factor humanitarian issues into their drive for profits. Or be prepared to suffer the fallout, which is, in a way, also managing the fiduciary obligations.

  • So (Score:4, Funny)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:20PM (#62112659) Homepage Journal

    Did this apology involve the ritual cutting of disks off of a log with a chainsaw?

  • Screw China (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:24PM (#62112669)
    It should be ILLEGAL to do business with COMMUNIST countries. PERIOD! It's SLAVE labor no matter how you look at it. Chinese citizens have no rights. So sick of hearing about companies cowering to the CCP assholes.
    • our CHERISHED Chinese partners

    • Re:Screw China (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:15PM (#62112823)

      It should be ILLEGAL to do business with COMMUNIST countries.

      That is not a wise policy. The communist regimes that have been economically isolated have endured the longest: NK and Cuba.

      Every country has competing factions of hardliners and reformers while viewing its enemies as monolithic. But communist countries have hardliners and reformers too. Economic isolation strengthens the hardliners while weakening the reformers.

      The best way to promote economic freedom is with economic freedom.

    • Indeed, just get your fellow countrymen to vote with their wallet. But I guess they will want their $100 TVs more than solving problems on the other side of the world.

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Worth remembering that this is the way Soviet Union was brought down. Severe limitations on trade.

      I still wouldn't argue for total ban, because that also cuts off a lot of contact you want for the day after Chinese people decide that CCP no longer enjoys Heavenly Mandate and act accordingly.

      • by ghoul ( 157158 )
        USA and friends had twice USSRs population. China on the other hand has a domestic market bigger than NATO. Isolating China would just give a protected market for Chinese companies who would then be able to compete in third party countries with NATO corporations.
        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          First of all, USSR also had friends. Second, China's "domestic market" is currently in process of crashing, as much of it is in the real estate bubble. And that is if you even believe the official numbers in the first place. And last, there was no real domestic market access for foreigners, ever. It's always been a closed state with some token fake openness for appearances, mainly for purposes of IP theft and attracting business that would have export value for China.

          Essentially your worst scenario is very

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The last thing we want is another cold war.

      If push came to shove China would take control of Taiwan, and there's not much anyone can do to stop them.

      The last cold war came close to nuclear exchanges more than once. Nothing is worth going back to that.

    • 80% in India aka Lower caste are also SLAVE labor as per https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org] and
      https://twitter.com/0x101/stat... [twitter.com]

  • This is the problem with sanctions, you need corporations to follow through. Spineless pussies like the NBA know where the next dollar is coming from, unfortunately. As does Hollywood for example
    • by dcw3 ( 649211 )

      This is the problem with sanctions, you need corporations to follow through. Spineless pussies like the NBA know where the next dollar is coming from, unfortunately. As does Hollywood for example

      I don't think sanctions work like you think they do.

  • by daveschroeder ( 516195 ) * on Friday December 24, 2021 @03:27PM (#62112681)

    These abuses are not âoeallegedâ; they are happening, and they are not based on dubious âoeresearchesâ [sic]:

    https://www.propublica.org/art... [propublica.org]

    There is a genocide happening in Xinjiang; one that is erasing an entire culture, language, religion, and history of a people.

    https://www.nytimes.com/intera... [nytimes.com]

    https://www.nytimes.com/intera... [nytimes.com]

    https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]

    • by sbrsb ( 233569 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @07:54PM (#62113405) Homepage

      Here's some of the Wikipedia article about the Grayzone, which the OP cited while contending that the research on oppression of Uyghur's was dubious:

      "The website's news content is generally considered to be fringe and it is known for its sympathetic coverage of authoritarian regimes and its denial of the Uyghur genocide.
      [...]
      "The Grayzone has been criticized 'for its coverage of authoritarian regimes'. Bruce Bawer, writing in Commentary, described The Grayzone as 'a one-stop propaganda shop, devoted largely to pushing a pro-Assad line on Syria, a pro-regime line on Venezuela, a pro-Putin line on Russia, and a pro-Hamas line on Israel and Palestine'. Nerma Jelacic, writing in the Index on Censorship, described The Grayzone as 'a Kremlin-connected online outlet that pushes pro-Russian conspiracy theories and genocide denial.'... Socialist academic Gilbert Achcar asserts that The Grayzone is an example of 'pro-Putin, pro-Assad 'left-wing' propaganda combined with gutter journalism.'"
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

  • It's the only way they will listen. Fuck them all the way to hell. And fuck China and their dictator Winnie the Pooh.

    • by Myria ( 562655 )

      And AMD chips are manufactured in Taiwan. Fuck China's government and the Chinese Communist Party.

      • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        Fun part: Intel doesn't make top tier chips there either. In fact, the fastest x86 chips made in PRC are several generations old AMD designs.

      • by storkus ( 179708 )

        Yeah this story is too old to comment, but surprisingly no one has mentioned: the AMD *CEO* is Taiwanese (Lisa Su), so you know damn well AMD will not go down this path, at least for now. Add to that none of the fabs they use (TAIWAN SMC, Samsung, & probably AMD's old foundary GF) make anything in "P"RC.

        • by ghoul ( 157158 )
          Taiwan's ultimate loyalty is to China. China allows Taiwan to exist as its a conduit for western tech. Tech the US wont give to China it gives to Taiwanese companies who then proceed to set up factories in China with that tech which then leaks to China.
  • Glad my current home build is not Intel. F them for this.

    • by Xenx ( 2211586 )
      I'm not a fanboy of either side, but I do like AMD. That said, you shouldn't think they're fundamentally better than Intel in regards to China. They are also heavily invested in China.
  • to bad corporate exe's, the media, their pundits and China ball players in the US don't follow the same guidelines.
    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      That's ultimately a good thing. You don't want state interests to be the primary driver of commerce. That is how you get to globalisation of late 1800s, where it's all about intraimperial trade rather than international trade.

  • The argument here seems to be akin to someone protesting: "But you can't trust the people who say I was a jerk to John yesterday since all those people think I'm a jerk." Yes, it could be they are biased against the accused or it could be that the accused really is a jerk and it's the people who haven't been convinced who are biased.

    And I don't see anything shocking about the fact that entities which are concerned about China's human rights record might be working with governments who are also concerned

  • by waspleg ( 316038 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:12PM (#62112813) Journal

    account with a state gov't backed summary. Thanks again for spewing propaganda /. FFS that's at least twice in less than 24 hours from the same fucking shill account.

  • by dskoll ( 99328 ) on Friday December 24, 2021 @04:39PM (#62112917) Homepage

    What a cowardly move on Intel's part. Absolutely shameful.

    • And yet I bet Intel will get billions from US government as subsidies to build more fabs.

      Wonder how fine a line you have to walk, to get billions from the US, and still do alot of business with China.

  • if china put jews into death work camps would we still make stuff in china?

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Why not, it was done the previous time with Germany.

      Though to be fair, we only discovered the camps when Soviets liberated them and went "ok, so we have Communist forced labour camps, so we know how to fuck people up, but this is a bit too far".

  • That they can't support genocide at this time. Remember when IBM sold computers to the Nazis so they could more efficiently build a database of Jews to ship off to the camps?
  • Sorry for breaking your glass heart.

    (That's "thin skin" in the Chinese wording.)

  • So... the editors are just encouraging the shills now? Has the comment section not yet spun sufficiently out of control into a cesspool of anti-reality drivel, so we needed a little nudge in that direction?
  • Will they apologize to us for apologizing?
  • ... rule the world in 50 years from now. Forget democracy when big tech accepts human right violations over money.

Keep up the good work! But please don't ask me to help.

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