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| Walmart signs are displayed inside a Walmart store in Mexico City, Mexico March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo |
Chinese authorities rapped Walmart for allegedly breaking cybersecurity laws, according to local media, the latest issue for retailer U.S which is already the subject of allegations in the country for allegedly halting sales of products from the Xinjiang.
Police in southern China’s Shenzhen city discovered 19 “vulnerabilities” in Walmart’s network system (WMT.N) in late November and accused them of taking a long time to fix the flaws the China Quality News, backed by the country’s market regulator, reported on Wednesday.
Walmart was ordered to make fixes, the report said, without mentioning fines or details of the vulnerabilities.
The retail giant and the Shenzhen police did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
This marks a fresh set of troubles in China for Walmart, which in the past month has faced criticism for what local media has said was its 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 U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in camps there.
China has rejected accusations of forced labour or any other abuses in the far western region.
Walmart has seen a wave of membership cancellations of its arm Sam’s Club branch in China since the Xinjiang problem.
The Chinese transplant agency also accused the retailer and the Sam’s Club of “stupidity and myopia”.
Although Walmart has not commented publicly on the matter, Reuters reported that a Sam’s Club executive told analysts during a phone call that it was a “misunderstanding” and that there had been no deliberate withdrawal of products from Xinjiang fined 10,000 yuan ($ 1,568) in Shanghai by the city’s market regulator for violating food safety laws after discovering that a frozen plant product did not have a production date or of expiration date, according to a separate report released by local media.