Tag: Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

Commentary: Solar Company Benefiting from IRA Has Forced Labor Problem

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Solar Panel Installation

Vice President Kamala Harris was “proud to cast the tie-breaking vote” for the Inflation Reduction Act. Would she be proud if her administration’s solar subsidies fund supported forced labor in China?

That may be the case with Hanwha Qcells, a South Korean solar company operating in Georgia. Bloomberg recently reported that two Chinese suppliers of the company obtained polysilicon for solar panel components from companies sanctioned by the U.S. government for employing forced Uyghur labor. Hanwha and their Qcells plant leadership deny these allegations, but Bloomberg reports “that the company offers assurances but no public details of its polysilicon sourcing.”

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Tennessee AG Joins Coalition Seeking Answers About Online Retailer Temu’s Business Practices, Connections to the Chinese Communist Party

Kaitlin Housler
A.G. Jonathan Skrmetti

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was one of 21 state attorneys general who sent a letter to the online retailer Temu and the CEO of its parent company, PPD Holdings Inc., seeking information regarding the company’s alleged ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), data collection and sharing practices, and possible violations of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

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Republican Lawmakers Urge Biden Admin to Blacklist Major Chinese Battery Companies with U.S. Interests

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A group of Republican lawmakers is urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to effectively ban imports from two Chinese battery companies with business interests in the U.S.

Five Republicans — including Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) John Moolenaar, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — wrote letters to DHS Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans Robert Silvers requesting that the agency bar battery manufacturers CATL and Gotion High-Tech from shipping goods to the U.S. because of connections to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.

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Commentary: Biden Administration Must Enforce Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

RealClearWire

Slavery has been illegal in the United States for nearly 160 years. And yet, over the past two decades, American businesses and consumers have once again begun to benefit from the horrific practice.

It’s an extremely uncomfortable truth, and for most Americans, it likely comes as a surprise. Until recently, they probably had no idea that the clothes they wear, the phones they cannot put down, and the solar panels on their roofs were made, in part, by slaves. The same cannot be said of the companies that eagerly ship jobs overseas to China and source materials from concentration camps.

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American Elites Have Deep Ties to a New Chinese Spy Chief

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The new deputy head of a propaganda and espionage agency in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has documented ties with business tycoons, university heads and other elite members of American society.

Chen Xu, former party secretary of one of the PRC’s most prestigious universities, Tsinghua, was promoted to deputy head of the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to an updated leadership roster on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) portal, which was first reported in Chinese media on Feb. 28.

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State Rep. Wilmeth Sponsors Bill to Block Public Entities in Arizona from Contracting with Companies That Used Forced Labor from Uyghurs

Rachel Alexander

State Rep. Justin Wilmeth (R-Phoenix) is sponsoring legislation to block state and other public entities in Arizona from contracting for services or products from companies that use forced labor from the ethnic Uyghurs in China. Under HB 2488, companies that do business with the state will be required to certify in writing that they do not use that labor.

“As a student of history, I know what happens when good people remain silent,” said Wilmeth. “The Chinese Communist Party keeping millions of people locked in internment camps, which harkens back to the darkest chapters of the 20th century. HB 2488 sends a strong message that the State of Arizona won’t do business with anyone that turns a blind eye to this horrible human rights abuse.”

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Nike Executives Funneled Money to Democrat Who Blocked Uyghur Forced Labor Bill

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Several top Nike executives funneled more than $60,000 to the re-election campaign of Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden over the course of just 16 days in September.

On Wednesday evening, Wyden blocked the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act which the House passed unanimously Tuesday and the Senate was expected to overwhelmingly approve. President Joe Biden vowed to sign the bill once passed by both chambers and work with Congress to “ensure global supply chains are free of forced labor,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

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