Walmart tasted Chinese treatment

The Chinese authorities rapped Walmart for allegedly violating cyber-security laws, the latest trouble for the American retailer that is already a target of accusations in the country for supposedly stopping sales of products from Xinjiang.

Police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen discovered 19 vulnerabilities in Walmart’s network system in late November and accused it of being slow to fix the loopholes.

Walmart was ordered to make rectifications, without mentioning any fines or details of the vulnerabilities. This marks a fresh set of troubles in China for Walmart, which in past month has faced criticism for deliberate removal of products sourced from Xinjiang from its apps and stores.

Xinjiang is a growing point of conflict between the Western governments and China, as United Nations experts and rights groups estimate that more than a million people, mainly Uighurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in camps there.

Walmart has seen a wave of membership cancellations at its arm Sam’s Club in China since the Xinjiang issue. China’s anti-graft agency also accused the retailer and Sam’s Club of “stupidity and short-sightedness”.