Jinjiang Group, a contractor for Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, said on Thursday that the Brazilian authorities' portrayal of their employees as "enslaved" was inconsistent with the facts and that there were translation misunderstandings.
Brazilian labour authorities on Wednesday had said they found 163 Chinese nationals working in "slavery-like conditions" at a construction site for a BYD-owned factory in Brazil's Bahia state.
BYD said then that it had cut ties with the firm that hired the workers and was working with authorities.
"Being unjustly labeled as 'enslaved' has made our employees feel that their dignity has been insulted and their human rights violated, seriously hurting the dignity of the Chinese people. We have signed a joint letter to express our true feelings," Jinjiang said on its official Weibo account.
Their statement was reposted by Li Yunfei, General Manager of branding and public relations at BYD, on his own Weibo account. He accused "foreign forces" and some Chinese media of "deliberately smearing Chinese brands and the country and undermining the relationship between China and Brazil".
A BYD representative directed Reuters to Li's Weibo post when asked about Jinjiang's comments and the situation. Jinjiang did not respond to a request for comment.
BYD has been building the factory with an annual capacity of producing 150,000 cars initially in Brazil, the Chinese EV giant's largest overseas market, as part of plans to start production there in 2024 or early 2025.
Brazil is poised to hike tariffs on imported EVs to 35% in July 2026 from 18% currently. On Wednesday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the Chinese embassy in Brazil was communicating with Brazilian counterparts to verify the situation and handle it.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ