Worthy Christian News > World News > China’s Forced Labour Linked To 100 Global Brands, Investigation Finds

China’s Forced Labour Linked To 100 Global Brands, Investigation Finds

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

BEIJING (Worthy News) – At least tens of thousands of China’s ethnic Uyghurs have been forcibly moved to factories far from their homes in the western region of Xinjiang, a new investigation revealed.

The displacement of minority workers up to 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) away is an effort by the Chinese government to get around a U.S. ban on imports from Xinjiang, a global symbol of forced labor and rights abuses.

Since the U.S. Congress imposed the import ban on Xinjiang products in 2021, Uyghurs have been placed in 75 factories across 11 regions as a hidden force fueling China’s economic expansion, according to an investigation led by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ).

Reporters for the TBIJ, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel magazine found that Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz workers manufacture a wide range of products, including keyboards, cars, and components, which are then shipped globally, reaching destinations such as the United States, Britain, and other countries.

Investigators discovered forced labor in at least five major industries, including electronics, footwear, car parts, home appliances, and facilities processing poultry.

Videos on Chinese social media showed Uyghurs being placed with suppliers for some of the world’s biggest brands. These include Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Apple, Samsung, LG Electronics, McDonald’s, KFC, Skechers, and Midea, the white goods brand that sponsors the Manchester City soccer club.

In total, over 100 global brands are linked to a scheme that ships Xinjiang ethnic minorities to work in factories thousands of miles away,” TBIJ found.

“The link to forced labor pervades entire swathes of the Chinese economy. More than a hundred consumer brands – from [tech giant] Apple to [car maker] Volkswagen– can be tied to the tainted trade,” TBIJ confirmed.

BIG BRANDS

And, “for the first time, evidence shows factories directly owned by big brands themselves, like those run by Midea and LG Electronics, have participated in the Chinese government program.”

Video footage shared by TBIJ and viewed by Worthy News confirmed that products include everything from Skechers shoes to KFC chicken.

In response, Apple and fellow tech giant Samsung stated that their suppliers are regularly independently audited, and recent audits have found no instances of forced labor.

However, Apple added that it is investigating the alleged link to forced labor.

Volkswagen also said it was investigating but couldn’t comment until this was completed, which was “against the background of the contractually agreed confidentiality obligations.”

Skechers and KFC didn’t respond to TBIJ’s questions.

However, the mass transfer of predominantly Muslim minority workers constitutes state-imposed forced labor, according to researchers, human rights watchdogs, North American and European governments, and the United Nations.

RECRUITING POPULATIONS

Christians are also believed to have been targeted.

This type of forced labor involves authorities recruiting targeted populations who, living in a police state-like environment, are coerced to work in key industries, TBIJ said.

“When a government official knocks on the door of a Uyghur person and says they should take a job far from home, the person knows this is not merely a request,” added Laura Murphy, a former senior policy adviser to the Biden administration on Xinjiang forced labor.

“They know there are directives that say refusal is punishable by detention. And they know how horrible detention is. Every Uyghur in Xinjiang has either been in detention themselves or has someone close to them who has been. This is not a choice. This is not consent.”

TBIJ’s investigation suggested that previous reporting on Communist-run China’s exploitation of vulnerable ethnic minorities failed to capture how extensive the practice has become.

It also showed that measures taken by major brands and governments are failing to prevent imports of products tainted by forced labor.

Using trade data and other sources, such as information from company websites, TBIJ tracked products to 86 markets worldwide, ranging from the U.S. and Britain to Colombia and Egypt. “It seems increasingly difficult to buy Chinese goods without running the risk of tapping into a regime of exploitation,” TBIJ established.

MANY VIDEOS

TBIJ said it had been trawling tens of thousands of videos posted on Douyin, the Chinese sister application of social media platform TikTok.

In another video, posted in May last year, a man at an electronics factory was seen wearing a red jacket emblazoned with the name of a local government division.

The same department sent him and many other men and women from Xinjiang, thousands of kilometers (miles) away, to work at this factory supplying parts for Samsung laptops.

“In life, there are no worthless people, only those unlucky before fate,” a voiceover said.

There was also government propaganda footage claiming uniformed workers ‘enthusiastically’ leaving their hometown in a bus to their new jobs.

And to an uncertain future.

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