Source: Taxpayers Union
16 SEPTEMBER 2020FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETaxpayers should not be made complicit in oppression of Uyghurs by funding Massey University, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union.Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says “In its agreement with Shihezi University – which self-describes as adhering to the ethos of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps – Massey seems to be putting its short-term competitive interest over the moral expectations of taxpayers who fund the University.”“The actions of the XPCC in Xinjiang allegedly include mass arbitrary detention and severe physical abuse, hence the United States’ sanction and MFAT’s encouragement that ‘all New Zealand businesses operating in Xinjiang to be conscious of these well-documented abuses’. It is difficult to believe Massey would not be aware of the abuses in Xinjiang.”“If Massey was a private company, consumers could simply refuse to do business with them if they did not condone this decision. But taxpayers don’t have that luxury – we are forced to tacitly endorse the moral decisions of publicly funded organisations. Massey should absolve taxpayers of that burden and end their agreement with Shihezi.””Until that happens, we’re calling on Massey staff to speak out against this tarred connection.”
