This just in: China uses forced labor.
But the latest report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) brings a twist: “The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of [more than 80,000] Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country.
Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including Apple, BMW, Gap, Huawei, Nike, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen.”
First of all, remember that whenever you’re told that the “free market” led to China’s rise as one of the world’s most dominant economic powers.
But second, note that the list of companies supplied by these factories includes such “woke” brands as Apple and Nike.
The latter in particular might raise your ire, because the athletic-equipment company two years ago paid big bucks to make America-hating ex-quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of its brand, even yanking a Betsy Ross shoe when he whined about it.
On his refusal to stand for our national anthem, Kaepernick said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
But he has no problem taking a huge paycheck from a company supplied by actual minority slave labor in an oppressive communist country.
ASPI notes, “Local governments and private brokers are paid a price per head by the Xinjiang provincial government to organise the labour assignments. The job transfers are now an integral part of the ‘re-education’ process, which the Chinese government calls ‘vocational training.'” More than a million people have “disappeared into a vast network of ‘re-education camps.'”
And, the report adds, “A factory in eastern China that manufactures shoes for US company Nike is equipped with watchtowers, barbed-wire fences and police guard boxes.”
Naturally, Nike denies there’s a problem. “We are committed to upholding international labor standards globally,” insisted spokeswoman Sandra Carreon-John. Suppliers are “strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured labor.”
If there’s one thing the world’s socialists have always had in common — from the Nazis to the Bolsheviks to the Chinese — it’s forced labor and “re-education.”
Nike’s response? It’s all about the money, so just do it.
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