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This is a guest editorial by Alex Tullo , C&EN's senior correspondent for business. Earlier this month, we got a big reminder of how perilous it can be for chemical companies to operate globally. After decades of harmony in China, BASF found itself pulling out of two joint ventures —which make polytetrahydrofuran and its precursor, butanediol—in the country's Xinjiang region. Xinjiang is home to a concentration of Uyghur people. Reports in the German news outlets Der Spiegel and ZDF alleged that employees of BASF's partner in the joint ventures, Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry, participated in visits to Uyghur family homes. Human Rights Watch says such visits, which officials can impose on households for 5 days or longer, are meant to indoctrinate and spy on the Uyghur population. BASF denies any wrongdoing, pointing out that the exposés implicated its partner, not the ventures themselves. It also says it conducts regular audits
Alex Tullo (Mon,) studied this question.