PTL refutes in a letter that it would have a factory in the Xinjiang region. On the other hand, it is confirmed that there is a subsidiary that owns land and has planned a factory, but the plans must have been shelved and the subsidiary is for sale.
Kommunala Torsbodabolaget has chosen to publish the letter on its website and praises it as an expression of the Chinese company’s transparency. But they don’t want to answer how they view the fact that PTL planned a factory in Xinjiang after all, which according to repeated reports is characterized by oppression and forced labor.
– We are a company that develops properties and has signed an agreement with PTL. It’s foreign policy we’re talking about in those matters, it’s not information we want to work with, it’s other people’s issues to deal with, says Torsboda CEO Christian Söderberg. (See video.)
PR agency called a meeting
The media’s questions to PTL are mediated by a Swedish PR agency, Diplomat Communications, which also handled journalist contacts at the joint press conference held when the deal was presented in early May.
When SVT asks Diplomat about their role and mission, the answer is short: “We do not comment on the missions from our clients”. But SVT’s review shows that, among other things, a Swedish web address has been registered for PTL, ptlsverige.se.
The day after PTL’s subsidiary in Xinjiang became known, Diplomat also sent a meeting invitation to politicians on Torsbodabolaget’s board. “Media handling PTL” was the short title.
But Torsbodabolaget’s CEO says he cannot say what was said at the meeting.
– I don’t recognize that discussion.
“Trying to wash the image”
Patrik Oksanen, security policy debater and expert linked to the think tank Frivärld, has reacted to Torsbodabolaget’s and local politicians’ actions.
– China is trying to wash the image of Xinjiang, they describe its culture and nature so that we forget the oppression of Uyghurs. Here the municipal company becomes useful idiots.