BYD contractor denies 'slavery-like conditions' in Brazil

Authorities say they found 163 Chinese nationals working in such circumstances

A general view of BYD's factory construction site in Camacari, Brazil, on Nov. 17. A BYD executive on his own Weibo account accuses "foreign forces" and some Chinese media of "deliberately smearing Chinese brands." © Reuters

December 26, 2024 18:58 JST

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -- Jinjiang Group, a contractor for Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, said on Thursday that Brazilian authorities' portrayal of their employees as "enslaved" was inconsistent with the facts and that there were translation misunderstandings.

Brazilian labor authorities on Wednesday said they had 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 company that hired the workers and was working with authorities.