It is only a matter of time before Kerstin Waltenberg also wants to travel to Xinjiang. Volkswagen operates a plant in the province in the far northwest of China, thousands of kilometers away from major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Waltenberg is the company’s human rights officer – and the location in the provincial capital of Urumqi is an ongoing topic.
China is suppressing the Uyghur minority in the region. “My visit to our plant in Urumqi is definitely planned,” announces the lawyer in an interview with the F.A.Z. at. VW China boss Ralf Brandstätter was there in the spring. Waltenberg also wants to show that VW takes the controversy surrounding the location seriously, even if there are no indications of human rights violations in its own plant. The visa for the China trip has already been applied for.