Xinjiang was removed from an open letter Intel issued to suppliers last month, after the contents of the letter provoked a social media storm in China and led the U.S. chip maker to apologize to the Chinese public for its actions.

Intel said on its social media account that a reference to Xinjiang in a letter to suppliers published on the company website was made to comply with U.S. regulations.

As the Chinese government has a policy of compulsory assimilation towards ethnic Muslim minorities, Intel has issued a letter to its global suppliers urging them to avoid purchasing from the northwestern Chinese region.

Intel was unavailable for comment at the time of this writing. After apologizing for the "problems" it had caused, the firm said it was adhering with U.S. law rather than expressing its own views on the topic of Xinjiang.

The apology came on the same day that U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law that restricts the imports of goods from Xinjiang.

Human rights crimes against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang have sparked a ban on U.S. imports from China's Xinjiang region. According to the Communist Party, the accusations are false.

Rights campaigners have called on American firms to boycott the forthcoming Winter Olympics, which will begin on February 4 in Beijing and will be broadcast live around the world.

The Olympics are being sponsored by a number of companies, including Coca-Cola and Samsung.

This year's Olympics will be the first time in history that no American diplomats will be present for the opening or closing ceremonies. Athletes from the United States will, nevertheless, be able to compete.

In order to continue operating in China, one of their most important markets, multinational corporations are feeling the heat as they try to abide with trade prohibitions connected to the Xinjiang region.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio took issue with Intel's decision to remove all references to Xinjiang from its annual letter to vendors, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement Monday, Sen. Chuck Grassley called Intel's "cowardice" another "expected consequence of economic dependency on China."

Despite popular opinion in the U.S., some of America's most well-known brands are expanding business ties with China.

Tesla, the electric car company founded by Elon Musk, just built a showroom in China's Xinjiang province. The opening was announced on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, on December 31 via a blog post on the company's official account.