Volkswagen said on Wednesday that it was disposing of its stakes in its facilities in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, exiting an area now known for China’s crackdown on predominantly Muslim ethnic groups there.

大众汽车周三表示，将出售它在中国西北新疆地区工厂的股份。这意味着大众汽车退出一个因中国政府镇压当地以穆斯林为主的少数民族而闻名的地区。

Volkswagen had a joint venture assembly plant in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, as well as two test tracks in the region, maintaining the largest and most visible presence in Xinjiang of any multinational company. That drew condemnation from human rights groups. The United States and a growing number of European countries bar imports from Xinjiang because of evidence of forced labor there.

大众汽车在新疆首府乌鲁木齐有一家合资装配厂，在该地区还有两条测试跑道，这使其成为新疆规模最大、最显眼的跨国公司，引来了人权组织的谴责。美国和越来越多的欧洲国家禁止从新疆进口产品，因为有证据表明那里存在强迫劳动。

The assembly plant did not just become a political liability for VW — it was also a money loser, because it was designed to make gasoline-powered cars. China has swiftly adopted electric vehicles in the last four years, and half the cars sold in China are now either battery-electric or plug-in hybrid cars.

那家装配厂不仅给大众汽车惹来了政治上的麻烦，而且让公司赔钱，因为它是为生产汽油动力汽车设计的。中国已在过去四年里迅速向电动汽车转型，目前中国销售的汽车中有一半是电池驱动或插电式混合动力汽车。

That has left manufacturers like VW, the market leader in China until recently, with considerable unneeded production capacity.

大众汽车直到不久前还是中国市场份额的最大占有者，但中国向电动汽车的转型使得大众等企业拥有大量不必要的生产能力。

The assembly plant has not built cars since 2019. VW and its state-owned joint venture partner, SAIC Motor, now employ fewer than 200 workers in Xinjiang who do the final preparation of cars for delivery to VW dealerships in western China. The Shanghai municipal government owns SAIC Motor, which also makes the MG brand of cars and has been rapidly expanding exports.

大众的那家装配厂自2019年起就不再生产汽车。大众及其国有合资伙伴上汽集团目前在新疆雇用的工人不到200名，他们从事的是将汽车交付给中国西部的大众经销商前最后的准备工作。上汽集团归上海市政府所有，也生产MG名爵品牌汽车，并一直在迅速扩大出口。

VW said that ownership of the assembly plant and test tracks was being transferred by the joint venture to the Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Center, which is owned by a different arm of the Shanghai government. No price was disclosed for the transaction.

大众表示，将把其在合资企业拥有的装配厂和测试跑道的股权转让给上海机动车检测中心，该中心由上海市政府的另一个部门所有。公司没有披露转让价。

Demand for gasoline-powered cars has collapsed in China, and VW’s sprawling factory in Xinjiang has been little used of late. VW had been deploying the facility to do the final preparation of cars for delivery to dealerships.

中国对燃油车的需求已瓦解，大众在新疆的庞大工厂最近已很少使用，公司曾用该设施进行汽车交付给经销商前的最后准备工作。

Exporting from Urumqi is impractical: Nearby Central Asian countries buy few cars, and the plant is 1,800 miles from the coast, too far for seaborne shipments.

从乌鲁木齐向海外出口是不切实际的做法：附近中亚国家的汽车市场很小，而工厂到海岸线的距离将近3000公里，对海运来说太远。

VW and SAIC built the assembly plant in Urumqi in 2012 and 2013 to make inexpensive, gasoline-powered cars to sell in western China. Volkswagen had made a point of hiring numerous Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang. Uyghurs have long faced discrimination from Chinese employers, and difficulties facing Uyghurs deepened after deadly attacks by Uyghur militants from 2008 to 2014.

大众和上汽集团于2012年和2013年在乌鲁木齐合资修建了那家装配厂，生产廉价的汽油动力汽车，销往中国西部。大众汽车公司曾特意雇佣众多维吾尔族工人，维吾尔族是新疆的一个以穆斯林为主的少数民族，长期以来一直受中国雇主的歧视，维吾尔族激进分子在2008年到2014年间制造了致命袭击事件后，维吾尔族人面临的歧视进一步加深。

Beginning in 2014, China cracked down on Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang. As many as a million ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other minorities were sent to indoctrination camps, detention centers and prisons. Associated forced-labor programs that sent rural Uyghurs to factories and to do other urban jobs also drew heavy criticism from human rights groups, and they have prompted the United States and some European countries to restrict imports from Xinjiang since 2021.

中国政府从2014年开始在新疆镇压维吾尔族和其他以穆斯林为主的少数民族。多达100万维吾尔族、哈萨克族和其他少数民族被关进再教育营、拘禁营和监狱。与镇压有关的强迫劳动项目将农村的维吾尔人送进工厂或从事其他的城市工作，这种做法也引起了人权组织的严厉批评，并促使美国和一些欧洲国家从2021年起限制从新疆进口产品。

VW has faced accusations by overseas activists that it has used forced labor by Uyghurs to build its test track near Urumqi. VW denies having done so. But when it hired an auditing firm late last year to review its compliance in Xinjiang with international labor standards, the audit was criticized overseas for not sufficiently protecting the anonymity of the workers who participated.

大众汽车也面临海外活动人士的指控，他们说，大众在乌鲁木齐附近修建测试跑道时使用了维吾尔族的强迫劳动。大众汽车否认了这一指控。去年年底，大众聘请了一家审计公司对其在新疆是否遵守国际劳工标准的问题进行调查，但审计工作在海外受到批评，称其在为提供信息的工人保密姓名上做得不够。