Tag Archives: Uyghurs

Why Some Imported Products Are Cheaper

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There are a lot of reasons for the decline of manufacturing in America. Many of those reasons are related to trade deficits and the desire for cheap goods, but some are related to the cost of doing business in America. For better or worse, corporations in America who choose to operate within the law are required to pay their employees a minimum wage. We can debate over what that wage should be, but the fact of the matter is that a minimum wage exists. Some other countries have no qualms about employing slave labor or paying people very low wages. The Chinese have used Muslims as slave labor for years. So why would a manufacturing company want to locate in America? There are a number of incentives (in addition to the lowering of the corporate tax rate). America has dependable energy and is moving toward lowering the cost of energy. America protects property rights–the state cannot come in and simply take your business away. Innovation is also protected by patent and copyright laws. America represents a stable environment in which to do business. Changing the structure of tariffs also has moral component.

On May 12, The Federalist reported:

…But Trump’s tariffs were not just economic, they were moral. Rather than relying on foreign countries, particularly China, that benefit from abusive labor practices, Trump put America first by deciding the U.S. must stop pretending inexpensive products come with no human cost. 

…During Trump’s first term, his administration repeatedly highlighted human rights abuses abroad, especially in regions like China’s Xinjiang province, where the Chinese Communist Party is running forced labor camps filled with Uyghur Muslims. More than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained by China and sent to reeducation camps in what is called the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Zone” for a range of reasons, including attending religious services, having more than three kids, or texting verses from the Quran. 

China forced many of its religiously and ethnically targeted workforce to toil away in factories, making products distributed and sold across the globe. Muslim slaves in China produce countless store shelves worth of goods, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, such as textiles, hair products, and aluminum, among many other things. They get extremely low pay, can’t contact or visit their families (unless, in some circumstances, they are heavily surveilled by the government), and they can’t leave. 

The article concludes:

Yes, U.S. prices may go up a bit in the short term. Maybe American girls will find two dolls under the Christmas tree instead of 30, as President Trump suggested Sunday on Meet the Press. Maybe U.S. students will sharpen five pencils instead of hoarding 250 like mini office supply tycoons. But maybe underpaid workers in China won’t have to literally slave away making those dolls or pencils for someone else’s kid in a distant Land of the Free. 

President Trump believes temporary price fluctuations are a trade-off worth making in the interim, and he is doing what no other president had the guts to do. There is short-lived pain before lasting progress, and Trump is willing to take the heat now to put human rights and American prosperity over easy profits. 

The Problems With Depending On China For Manufacturing

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On Monday, The Daily Caller posted an article about the slowdown in America of solar installations in the third quarter.

The article reports:

U.S. solar installations fell in the third quarter of 2022 and are projected to fall by nearly 25% in comparison to 2021 after the Biden administration began blocking Chinese solar imports from Xinjiang, a region where Uyghur Muslims are allegedly being forced to work, according to a Tuesday report.

The U.S. installed 4.6 GW of solar capacity in the third quarter of 2022, a 17% decrease from 2021’s third quarter and a 2% decrease from the second quarter of 2022 as the government continues to impound Chinese solar panel products under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), according to a Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie report. The act, which Congress passed in December 2021, bans imports from Xinjiang due to the allegations that Uyghurs are forced to manufacture polysilicon, a key input in solar panels, exacerbating supply chain constraints and meaning that the total number of solar installations in 2022 is projected to decline by 23% compared to 2021 levels.

The article notes:

China dominates solar panel manufacturing and is responsible for 80% of polysilicon production, according to an International Energy Agency report. In June, President Joe Biden waived tariffs designed to protect domestic businesses from unfair competition in order to get more Chinese solar panels on the market and accelerate his “clean energy” transition.

The Biden administration wants to generate all of the country’s electricity from green energy, such as solar or wind power, by 2035, up from just 40% in 2020. To achieve this objective, the yearly rate of solar installations may need to more than double, according to the Energy Department.

Dependency on green energy is similar to the search for the perpetual motion machine. There may actually be an answer in nuclear fusion, but we are not there yet. Countries like Iceland make use of geothermal energy very successfully, but they also live on top of the volcanoes that produce that energy. I am not sure I like that trade-off.

Our Role Model?

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On November 27th, I posted an article reporting that Klaus Schwab recently stated that China Will Be a ‘Role Model’ in the ‘Systemic Transformation’ of the World. I really don’t like the idea of China as a role model. Currently Chinese protestors are being beaten in the streets, and many will be jailed and tortured for their protesting. The protests began in response to the draconian lockdowns (supposedly due to Covid) that resulted in people in an apartment fire dying because they were locked into their apartment building.

On Tuesday, The Washington Free Beacon posted the following:

Uyghur activists are demanding that the Biden administration extract details from China about the fire that the Chinese government says killed 10 people trapped in a building, alleging that the true number of deaths is far higher due to China’s coronavirus lockdowns.

“The Chinese government officially recorded 10 deaths,” said Salih Hudayar, who heads a human rights group focused on China’s genocide of the ethnic minority group. “Photos suggest the number of Uyghurs slain was much higher.”

Social media posts and photos place the death toll at 44, said Hudayar, who on Monday led a protest outside the State Department in Washington, D.C. Residents reportedly couldn’t escape their homes because their doors were bolted and barred for quarantine. Barricades at the building prevented fire trucks from getting close enough to fight the fire—video of the incident shows firefighters spraying water that failed to even reach the building. Huyadar said it took hours for help to arrive.

“Residents stated firefighters arrived three hours after the fire began,” Hudayar said.

The deaths have sparked unrest across the country, with residents calling for the easing of restrictions and the resignation of President Xi Jinping. Chinese authorities have tried to clamp down on the protests, searching residents’ phones in Beijing and Shanghai for use of illegal messaging apps. Chinese bots on Twitter, meanwhile, tweeted pornographic content to drown out posts about the protests and criticism of Xi.

It takes a lot of courage to protest in China. Free speech is not a way of life. Prison and torture are likely to be the results of protesting. China is not a role model we want to follow.

They’re Only “Woke” When It Is Convenient

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Recently American corporations have been trying to “outwoke” each other. Recently The Daily Wire posted an article about the hypocrisy of this effort.

The article notes:

There is a rising trend in corporate America to make businesses more “socially conscious” — at least in the minds of Western consumers.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are “a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments,” according to Investopedia. For instance, a company may emphasize its use of green energy, association with LGBTQ suppliers, or otherwise arrange its operations such that producing shareholder value is inseparable from a leftist agenda.

Elon Musk warned just a few weeks ago that “ESG rules have been twisted into insanity.” This year’s ranking of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere — the “global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character” — helps to explain why. 

The article lists the five “woke” companies that benefit from Uyghur slave-labor in China.

Here is the list:

1. Apple  — a one-time honoree on the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list — has multiple firms in its supply chain that utilize forced labor.

2. Sony  — a four-time honoree on the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list — also procures many of its devices from Chinese facilities using Uyghur labor, including O-Film, Highbroad, Dongguan Yidong, and Foxconn.

3. Dell Technologies — a ten-time honoree on the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list — also procured from O-Film, Highbroad, and Foxconn, as well as Sichuan Mianyang Jingweida Technology Co.

4. General Motors — a three-time honoree on the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list — is also associated with O-Film and Dongguan Yidong.

5. Microsoft — a twelve-time honoree on the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list — has links to O-Film, Dongguan Yidong, and Foxconn.

The article concludes:

President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law in December. Sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the legislation stipulates that no goods made with slave labor from Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province will make it to the United States. However, the legislation was passed despite a lobbying push from firms like Nike, Coca-Cola, and “World’s Most Ethical Companies” designee Apple.

How should Western companies respond to their tainted supply chains? ASPI recommends that each company should “conduct immediate and thorough human rights due diligence on its factory labour in China, including robust and independent social audits and inspections.” Any factories implicated should then be reformed or abandoned.

And in the meantime, we should avoid lauding these companies for their compassion.

It’s very easy to yell at Americans for our past misdeeds while ignoring the current misdeeds of foreign countries. American corporations need to consider bringing their manufacturing operations back to America, regardless of the cost.

This Isn’t A Good Look For The Chinese

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On Friday, BizPacReview posted an article about a reporter covering the Olympics in China. Evidently the reporter was reporting from a location that the powers that be in China did not want him reporting from.

This is the video:

The reporter was later allowed back on the air to finish his report. This is what life in a totalitarian state is like.

The article reports:

No nerves were settled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, while speaking Thursday at a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing, delivered a chilling warning for our Olympic athletes.

“Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government, because they are ruthless,” Pelosi cautioned, saying the athletes are “there to compete.”

“I know there is a temptation on the part of some to speak out while they are there,” Pelosi said. “I respect that, but I also worry about what the Chinese government might do… to their reputations, to their families.”

“Pelosi ostensibly slammed the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee for choosing Beijing as the venue for the Games given the Chinese Communist Party’s horrific human rights record,” reported BPR.

It’s a significant change in tone from the speaker, who just last September told a crowd in Cambridge, England, that, while the U.S. was aware of China’s ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, we needed to continue working with China on the “overriding issue” of climate change.

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy swung back at Pelosi’s Olympic-sized warning, tweeting, “Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want to upset the Chinese Communist Party. So she’s warning US Olympians to stay silent about China’s atrocities.”

“There’s a lot of us athletes who are super upset about the genocide in China,” an American snowboarder, who wished to remain anonymous, told Yahoo! Sports. “We’re upset about it. But we’re struggling to figure out, what can we do?”

And what, you may wonder, did the NOS reporter do who went against the Olympic spirit?

According to one source, he dared to broadcast from an “unphotogenic location.”

At some point is the world going to stop ignoring the plight of the Uyghurs and stand up to the ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist government?

Will Future Reparations Be Paid?

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In the past year of so, we have heard a lot about paying reparations to black residents of America because their ancestors were sold as slaves. But what about putting a nail in the coffin of modern-day slavery? On Thursday, The Washington Free Beacon posted an article about modern-day slavery in China and the efforts by some Congressmen to end it.

The article reports:

Senate Democrats are blocking legislation that would prohibit imports from China made with Uyghur slave labor, in response to pressure from Biden administration officials who fear the bill would torpedo climate negotiations with the Chinese government, congressional sources told the Washington Free Beacon.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) that has long been circulating in Congress and is backed by the human rights community and opponents of China’s forced labor camps, was included in a package of 25 amendments to the annual defense authorization bill, according to a list distributed by Senate leadership on Wednesday.

But Democrats excluded the amendment from a vote late Wednesday night, after members of the party privately objected to it, sources told the Free Beacon. Earlier in the evening, Democrats tried to use a procedural mechanism that would have allowed a vote on the act but stripped it from the final authorization bill, according to a hotline memo from Senate leadership.

The pushback from Senate Democrats comes amid efforts by senior Biden administration officials to quietly kill the bill over concerns it will hinder the White House’s climate agenda and limit solar panel imports from China. Presidential climate envoy John Kerry, among others, has been lobbying House members against the bill, the Free Beacon reported last month. The bill is widely backed by the human rights community and easily attracted Republican support in the narrowly Democrat-controlled Senate. Congressional officials tell the Free Beacon that the new opposition to the measure among Democrats is a product of the Biden administration’s lobbying efforts.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer offered conflicting explanations for the holdup on Wednesday, with his office initially suggesting to the Free Beacon that Republicans were blocking a vote on the amendment.

The anti-slavery act has “been on the list of amendments Senate Democrats proposed the Senate to vote on that the Republicans have been objecting to … so you should ask the Senate Republicans why they’re blocking the vote,” Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman told the Free Beacon.

The article concludes:

Michael Sobolik, a fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, said the Senate Democratic opposition to the amendment was the “latest episode in a series of concessions to the Chinese Communist Party.”

“With their words, the administration and its congressional allies insist that America can simultaneously cooperate and compete with Beijing,” said Sobolik. “By their actions, they are dismissing potential complicity in an ongoing genocide to pocket dubious climate concessions from a regime with a track record of lying and breaking promises. That’s the opposite of ‘responsible competition.'”

I wish we could afford to pay all of our representatives and politicians in Washington as well as China pays them.

Marching Orders From Beijing

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The Epoch Times posted an article about a recent speech given by China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi . In the speech, the ‘diplomat’ warned the Biden administration not to meddle in China’s internal affairs. It’s interesting to see exactly what China considers its internal affairs.

The article reports:

“The United States should stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang,” Yang said, calling the issues regarding the three regions China’s “internal affairs.” He made the remarks while speaking at a virtual event hosted by New York-based nonprofit the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Yang added: “They constitute a red line that must not be crossed. Any trespassing would end up undermining China-U.S. relations and the United States’ own interests.”

He also told the United States that it should “strictly abide by the One China principle” with regards to Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing claims is part of its territory.

The Trump administration confronted China on its human rights violations against Falun Gong adherents, Hongkongers, Muslim minorities, Tibetans, and Uyghurs, by imposing visa restrictions and sanctions against Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials responsible for the abuse.

Translated loosely–let us continue to ignore our treaty regarding Hong Kong, let our human rights violations continue, and don’t interfere when we invade Taiwan. It would be truly awful for China to successfully take over both Hong Kong and Taiwan during the Biden administration, but I am sure that China is seriously considering the possibility.

The article concludes:

Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), also commented on Yang’s speech.

“Bottom line: Beijing is ready [to] cooperate only on China’s terms,” he wrote.

U.S.-based China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan said in a phone interview that the Chinese regime was using both soft and hard tactics to pressure the administration, in the hopes of restarting official talks with the United States.

Yang’s speech was an example of a soft approach, while recent incursions into Taiwan’s airspace and sanctions on former U.S. officials were hawkish tactics.

His speech could be read as an indication that the Chinese regime would be willing to make concessions if the United States would promise not to cross the “red lines.”

Ultimately, Tang believes the Chinese regime wants to “revert back to a time when human rights and commerce were decoupled from each other” during negotiations, so that the regime could continue to do business with the United States, while ignoring human rights issues.

That’s where we are, folks.