During its annual general meeting, Volkswagen experienced disruption from ten activists who protested the company's labor rights violations in its factory in Xinjiang, China, and for making climate-damaging decisions on its operations.
(Photo : TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
An activist is escorted away as she demonstrates against Volkswagen's ongoing production of cars with combustion engines using fossil fuels during the annual general meeting of German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) in Berlin on May 10, 2023.
Protests During Annual Meeting
Volkswagen hosts a general meeting for its shareholders every year and is open to critical dialog by regularly inviting stakeholder groups and environmental protection organizations to discuss controversial perspectives and operations.
But during Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume's speech, Associated Press reported that ten activists interrupted the event by protesting over the factory in China's Xinjiang Province and its climate-damaging decisions. A cake was also thrown during Board Chairman Hans-Dieter Poetsch's speech.
One activist was seen topless with the words "Dirty Money" painted on her back, and others carried signages and banners that states "End Uyghur Forced Labour." In its defense, Volkswagen has said that it has found no evidence of human rights violations at its factory in the region as Chief of China Operations Ralf Brandstaetter visited earlier this year.
Human rights groups argued that hundreds of thousands of Muslim Uyghur population have been persecuted in the Xinjiang province of China by the government to work for the company. This includes forced labor in detention camps, which violates and abuses human and labor rights.
The US State Department described these actions from the government as genocide. Forbes reported that investors also urged the company urging to require an independent audit of the plant, conducted by its joint venture partner Chinese automobile company SAIC. This will ensure that the company is not using forced labor.
As the police immediately stopped the attempt of the climate protestors to glue themselves to the ground on the square, the shareholder meeting resumed only after a brief intermission at Berlin's City Cube venue.
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Losing Ground in China
Aside from these concerns from the activists that were amplified by investors, the increasing competition from EV makers in China has been brought up by the shareholders during the meeting. Electrek reported that China has been quickly progressing toward being fully electric, accounting for one in every four vehicles sold in the region last 2022.
Volkswagen has watched its market shrink over the past few years as both global and domestic EV makers gained customers in China, including Tesla, Nio, XPeng, and BYD. BYD already surpassed VW in passenger car sales for the first three months of the year as demand for affordable EVs continues to increase.
CEO Blume acknowledged that China was rapidly moving toward electric and made the sare that the automaker has a strategy to maintain or increase its position in the market. Volkswagen is planning to create EVs, specifically designed for Chinese consumers, by collaborating with local manufacturers. Through this, the company will win back its market share.
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