Starbucks has opened its first two stores in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi — one at the city centre's grand bazaar, the other at the international airport — marking the American coffee chain's debut in the region. The news drew a swift rebuke from John Moolenaar, chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on China, who demanded Starbucks "immediately reverse course and close its stores," calling the decision "shocking and morally bankrupt." Reuters and the Financial Times reported the story.
The two outlets opened this week, one at Urumqi's grand bazaar and the second at its international airport, according to Reuters. On its official WeChat platform, Starbucks said the stores were not just new coffee outlets in Xinjiang but "a new experience that blended local culture and customer needs." Pictures showed the Starbucks logo in English and Chinese, with no obvious Uyghur-language signs — Uyghur, written in an Arabic-based script, is meant to enjoy official parity in Xinjiang.
In a statement published Thursday, Moolenaar said: "This is a shocking and morally bankrupt decision by a company that prides itself on social responsibility. There is no justifiable reason for an American company to do business in a region where the CCP has detained more than a million Uyghurs and is stripping them of their faith, language, and culture." Rights groups joined the condemnation. China denies widespread accusations of abuses against the Uyghurs, a mainly Muslim people, saying its policies were aimed at combating terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism. Neither Starbucks nor China's Foreign Ministry responded to requests for comment; China is in the middle of its week-long National Day holiday.
Liu Wenjuan, Starbucks' China chief executive, said in the WeChat post that the company would continue investing in Xinjiang. The expansion sits inside Starbucks' new China structure finalized in April 2026: a joint venture bringing in Boyu Capital as a strategic investor holding a 60% stake, operating about 8,000 outlets across China. The Xinjiang openings are the latest step in that growth plan.
In recent years, major U.S. brands have been losing ground in China to rising domestic competitors, while in Washington, lawmakers keep pressing companies to cut ties with Xinjiang. Starbucks' openings land squarely on that fault line: the commercial logic of expanding in China colliding head-on with U.S. human-rights politics.
Starbucks has not responded to Moolenaar's demand. In past cases, U.S. companies have tended to ride out such storms quietly — neither closing stores nor mounting a loud defense. Whether congressional pressure escalates into legislative action, and whether Starbucks scales back its Xinjiang investment plans, are both worth watching.