China likes to present its Belt and Road Initiative as the project of the century. For the people and communities along the Belt and Road, however, the supposed progress often brings misery and exploitation. A new study by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre lists numerous human rights abuses of China’s outbound investments: From displacement to labor rights violations and land grabs. Almost 680 allegations are only the tip of the iceberg, as Nico Beckert analyses.
Be it Facebook, Google, Amazon – US tech companies dominate our lives, for the most part, more than ever before. But concerns over data protection and the power of their monopolies are the cause for political debates in Europe and the US: Which regulatory approaches are the right ones? Should, and can, companies be split up like Rockefeller’s Standard Oil once was? Frank Sieren took a closer look at the recent tech crackdown in China. Analysts say Beijing’s regulatory approach could boost competition and innovation in the economy. A model for Western lawmakers?
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a multi-billion dollar project with dozens of partner nations worldwide. While many numbers on the reach and scope of the initiative are artificially inflated, there are constant reports of human rights abuses in Belt and Road projects. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has compiled these allegations in a new study. According to the study, from the launch of the BRI (2013) to the end of 2020, the NGO registered 679 publicly available information on allegations of human rights violations. These include land conflicts, destruction of livelihoods, environmental pollution, labor rights violations and the use of violence. The report is based on research by local and international NGOs and media reports.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre accuses Beijing of presenting itself as a “responsible superpower”. However, Chinese companies regularly violate environmental and social standards in foreign projects, according to the NGO, which investigates the impact of economic activities of more than 10,000 companies on human rights.
The authors stress that “each allegation involves a number of human rights violations” because individual human rights violations (such as land grabbing) often lead to others (such as the destruction of livelihoods). Since the organization has to limit itself to publicly available information, the figure of 679 cases is only the “tip of the iceberg,” a spokeswoman said. It was also difficult to estimate how many people were affected by human rights violations in total.
Chinese overseas mining projects record the highest number of allegations of human rights violations (236), followed by the infrastructure sector (152 allegations) and fossil fuel projects (118 allegations). These three project types thus account for more than two-thirds of the incidents registered.
In regard to the nature of the violations, most allegations relate to violations of land rights (194 allegations) and, closely related, threats to the livelihoods of individuals affected by Chinese overseas projects (190 allegations). In certain infrastructure projects, for example, people are resettled without receiving compensation for their expropriated land, according to the study’s authors. The destruction and pollution of the environment and resulting effect on human health were also among the most common consequences of Chinese projects (125 allegations).
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre counted 125 cases of labor rights violations in Chinese projects abroad. The NGO provides few details on individual cases. However, reports by other NGOs, such as China Labor Watch, have highlighted the sometimes inhumane working conditions of Chinese workers in overseas projects in greater detail. In dozens of cases, wage theft, debt bondage, or lack of medical care was discovered (as reported by China.Table).
About eight percent (118) of alleged human rights violations counted are also found in the sector of renewable energy, with most occurring in hydropower projects. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on a dam project in Cambodia that is financed by China and belongs to the BRI. HRW calls it a “human rights disaster”, accusing the dam project of destroying the livelihoods of local communities who rely on fishing, agriculture and forestry. Chinese investment in renewable energy has increased in recent years as Beijing pushes a “Green Belt and Road Initiative.”
Sectors outside the media spotlight are also marked by numerous allegations of human rights abuses. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, China has increased overseas investment in agriculture and food production in recent years. Chinese companies have been accused of conflicts over land as well as labor rights violations and environmental damage in various investment fields such as pig farms in Argentina and banana plantations in Myanmar, the study said. There also is evidence of forced labor and physical assaults by Chinese crews on fishing trawlers in Indonesia and other regions of the world.
Geographically, the allegations are relatively evenly distributed among the regions with the largest BRI investments: Most allegations were made in Asia and the Pacific (270), Africa (181) and Latin America (177). In Europe, 22 human rights violations allegations have been made.
Over a period of several years, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has asked the accused Chinese companies for a comment on the allegations. However, responses were received for only 101 allegations, i.e. less than one in six allegations – a lower response rate than for similar requests to companies from other countries. According to the study, half of the Chinese companies responded with a truism, while the other half commented specifically on individual points, which presupposed an internal investigation. Such responses at least showed “greater will to dialogue,” the NGO said. Only five companies referred to international standards in their responses, while all others simply stressed that they abide by the local rules of the host countries. The study authors called this approach problematic, “especially when companies operate in countries where local laws are barely developed or enforced.”
In recent years, Beijing has enacted a series of political initiatives and regulations to ensure compliance with human rights and environmental protection standards. However, numerous allegations of human rights violations show that paper is patient and there is a lack of implementation at sites. The verdict of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: “China’s regulations fall short.” They do not provide “systematic protection of human rights in overseas business activities”.
Golda S. Benjamin, Program Director of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre says: China’s image as a responsible major power is at risk of being tarnished “if the government and companies do not adequately focus on the urgent need for action to address human rights risks in their overseas projects”. The NGO calls for “effective human rights due diligence” by Chinese companies and “appropriate grievance mechanisms to enable victims of human rights abuses” to pursue claims for compensation and legal action.
China will not tighten its climate plans in the short term, despite Monday’s alarming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. China’s foreign ministry proclaimed “full confidence in the implementation of China’s climate action,” news agency AFP reported Tuesday. In July, China missed a deadline to send updated 2030 mitigation plans to the United Nations. The People’s Republic plans to peak emissions before 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2060.
China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua recently announced that the government would publish strategy papers and detailed implementation plans for reducing emissions before the global climate summit in November. Xie announced a framework focusing on ten areas. These include the reduction of the use of fossil fuels, a low-CO2 building and mobility sector, green finance, further improvement of emissions trading (as reported by China.Table) and generally promoting green and low-CO2 technologies and innovations. Following its rapid economic rise, China is now the world’s largest CO2 emitter in absolute terms – not per capita. Accordingly, emissions must fall again quickly in order to achieve climate goals. nib
The relationship between action movie star Jackie Chan and his hometown of Hong Kong was once a very special one. People loved the actor for his martial arts, his move, and his role as an ambassador for the city, whose image he helped shape since the 1980s as a comedic gadfly with outstanding kung fu skills. As a child, he even acted alongside legendary Bruce Lee, and many considered him his legitimate successor.
Jackie Chan, whose Chinese name is Cheng Long, is also outside of China, synonymous with the cultural creativity of the metropolis. However, Chan, who has starred in around 200 movies, has since dramatically lost the affection of many of his Hong Kong compatriots over recent years. Most recently, he caused outrage and head shaking in July when he told his audience at a China Film Association symposium in the People’s Republic, “I’m very lucky to be a Chinese person, but I also am very jealous that you all are Party members. I just think the Chinese Communist Party is really so magnificent.” What the Party said and promised it would accomplish in a few decades, while other (parties) would take 100 years to do it: “I want to be a Party member!”
It was not the first acknowledgment by the 67-year-old of the CCP’s monopoly on power and its increasing influence over his hometown. In 2009, he had once mischievously remarked that he was no longer sure whether freedom was good or not. He had gradually come to realize the importance of Chinese people living under strict control. “Otherwise, we’ll do what we want. Just look at road traffic,” he said. He appeared on state television as a regular guest on the New Year’s show, and in 2008 he was part of the Olympic torch relay heading to Beijing.
Hong Kong’s love was already beginning to crumble. By 2019 at the latest, it had turned to pure hatred among many of the city’s pro-democracy citizens when Chan publicly condemned the protest movement. Later, Chan, like many other celebrities in the city, signed a joint statement claiming that the introduction of the National Security Law for Hong Kong was an urgent tool to restore stability and peace in the city.
He had already fallen out with many Taiwanese citizens much earlier, after calling the 2004 presidential election in the island state “the biggest joke”. A few years later, during a promotional tour to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory, he faced a lot of hostility. Demonstrators waited for him at the airport, urging him to “Get lost”.
His support for the authoritarian policies of the CCP eventually turned into a political mission. Since 2013, Chan has been a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. As such, he has the opportunity to introduce proposals into the policy-making process of the People’s Republic. In turn, the party and state media use his name to popularize their policies in Hong Kong and around the globe. Another example is professional basketball player Yao Ming, who has tens of millions of fans in China, and since the end of his career has been used as a poster boy for the authoritarian regime. For no one dares to turn down an invitation to the Consultative Conference, not unless he or she wants to be perceived at least as ungrateful or, at worst, even as a dissident.
The commercial consequences for celebrities can be devastating should they choose not to follow the Party’s will, as John Lee of the Hudson Institute in Washington told Vice Magazine about the Jackie Chan case. “There are potentially serious commercial consequences for celebrities and entertainment executives who make sensitive comments that are deemed as being critical of China and the Communist Party,” Lee says. Especially when their own movies rely on whopping revenues at the Chinese box office. While Hong Kong stars like Chan have opted to kowtow, actor Chow Yun-fat (The Assassins, Pirates of the Caribbean) or singer Denise Ho have been punished with exile from the Chinese market for supporting the pro-democracy movement.
Jackie Chan is not only an actor, but also an entrepreneur. His film production company and cinema chain are also active in China. Chan has promised to donate half of his fortune of several hundred million US dollars posthumously to good causes. His own foundation aims to provide young people in Hong Kong with better educational opportunities. He is also committed to the welfare of endangered species. The sheen of his philanthropy was scratched, however, when his name came up in 2016 in connection with the publication of the Panama Papers. Through an obscure law company, he owned six companies managed in tax havens. A legal practice, but for many ordinary mortals, it was reason enough to accuse him of contributing to social inequality in the world.
In the meantime, Chan subtly promotes changes among the world’s major powers in his movies. Take, for example, the 2010 remake of Karate Kid, which Chan also directed and starred as a Beijing janitor introducing an African-American boy who immigrated from the US to the world of kung fu. In one scene, the boy, talking to his single mother from the US working class, laments that he wants to go back home. Her response: “This is our home.” The idea of portraying China as a country of immigration, as the U.S. is for Chinese, might seem hilarious – but is pure fiction for the time being
But who knows how the world will develop; perhaps the People’s Republic will soon become dependent on wage labor from abroad because of its demographic change. Thirty years ago, no one would have expected Jackie Chan to support an authoritarian regime. A week before the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, Chan attended the benefit Concert for Democracy in China at the Hong Kong Happy Valley Racecourse, in which all the artists had volunteered to take part. grz
A food delivery man checks new orders on an empty street in Zhangjiajie, Hunan. Since last Tuesday, residents and tourists have not been allowed to leave the central Chinese city in an effort to contain the recent local Covid outbreak. Delivery services are providing people with essential supplies such as food and medical products. Zhangjiajie is located near a national park with globally unique quartzite sandstone formations, considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
China likes to present its Belt and Road Initiative as the project of the century. For the people and communities along the Belt and Road, however, the supposed progress often brings misery and exploitation. A new study by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre lists numerous human rights abuses of China’s outbound investments: From displacement to labor rights violations and land grabs. Almost 680 allegations are only the tip of the iceberg, as Nico Beckert analyses.
Be it Facebook, Google, Amazon – US tech companies dominate our lives, for the most part, more than ever before. But concerns over data protection and the power of their monopolies are the cause for political debates in Europe and the US: Which regulatory approaches are the right ones? Should, and can, companies be split up like Rockefeller’s Standard Oil once was? Frank Sieren took a closer look at the recent tech crackdown in China. Analysts say Beijing’s regulatory approach could boost competition and innovation in the economy. A model for Western lawmakers?
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a multi-billion dollar project with dozens of partner nations worldwide. While many numbers on the reach and scope of the initiative are artificially inflated, there are constant reports of human rights abuses in Belt and Road projects. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has compiled these allegations in a new study. According to the study, from the launch of the BRI (2013) to the end of 2020, the NGO registered 679 publicly available information on allegations of human rights violations. These include land conflicts, destruction of livelihoods, environmental pollution, labor rights violations and the use of violence. The report is based on research by local and international NGOs and media reports.
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre accuses Beijing of presenting itself as a “responsible superpower”. However, Chinese companies regularly violate environmental and social standards in foreign projects, according to the NGO, which investigates the impact of economic activities of more than 10,000 companies on human rights.
The authors stress that “each allegation involves a number of human rights violations” because individual human rights violations (such as land grabbing) often lead to others (such as the destruction of livelihoods). Since the organization has to limit itself to publicly available information, the figure of 679 cases is only the “tip of the iceberg,” a spokeswoman said. It was also difficult to estimate how many people were affected by human rights violations in total.
Chinese overseas mining projects record the highest number of allegations of human rights violations (236), followed by the infrastructure sector (152 allegations) and fossil fuel projects (118 allegations). These three project types thus account for more than two-thirds of the incidents registered.
In regard to the nature of the violations, most allegations relate to violations of land rights (194 allegations) and, closely related, threats to the livelihoods of individuals affected by Chinese overseas projects (190 allegations). In certain infrastructure projects, for example, people are resettled without receiving compensation for their expropriated land, according to the study’s authors. The destruction and pollution of the environment and resulting effect on human health were also among the most common consequences of Chinese projects (125 allegations).
The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre counted 125 cases of labor rights violations in Chinese projects abroad. The NGO provides few details on individual cases. However, reports by other NGOs, such as China Labor Watch, have highlighted the sometimes inhumane working conditions of Chinese workers in overseas projects in greater detail. In dozens of cases, wage theft, debt bondage, or lack of medical care was discovered (as reported by China.Table).
About eight percent (118) of alleged human rights violations counted are also found in the sector of renewable energy, with most occurring in hydropower projects. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on a dam project in Cambodia that is financed by China and belongs to the BRI. HRW calls it a “human rights disaster”, accusing the dam project of destroying the livelihoods of local communities who rely on fishing, agriculture and forestry. Chinese investment in renewable energy has increased in recent years as Beijing pushes a “Green Belt and Road Initiative.”
Sectors outside the media spotlight are also marked by numerous allegations of human rights abuses. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, China has increased overseas investment in agriculture and food production in recent years. Chinese companies have been accused of conflicts over land as well as labor rights violations and environmental damage in various investment fields such as pig farms in Argentina and banana plantations in Myanmar, the study said. There also is evidence of forced labor and physical assaults by Chinese crews on fishing trawlers in Indonesia and other regions of the world.
Geographically, the allegations are relatively evenly distributed among the regions with the largest BRI investments: Most allegations were made in Asia and the Pacific (270), Africa (181) and Latin America (177). In Europe, 22 human rights violations allegations have been made.
Over a period of several years, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre has asked the accused Chinese companies for a comment on the allegations. However, responses were received for only 101 allegations, i.e. less than one in six allegations – a lower response rate than for similar requests to companies from other countries. According to the study, half of the Chinese companies responded with a truism, while the other half commented specifically on individual points, which presupposed an internal investigation. Such responses at least showed “greater will to dialogue,” the NGO said. Only five companies referred to international standards in their responses, while all others simply stressed that they abide by the local rules of the host countries. The study authors called this approach problematic, “especially when companies operate in countries where local laws are barely developed or enforced.”
In recent years, Beijing has enacted a series of political initiatives and regulations to ensure compliance with human rights and environmental protection standards. However, numerous allegations of human rights violations show that paper is patient and there is a lack of implementation at sites. The verdict of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre: “China’s regulations fall short.” They do not provide “systematic protection of human rights in overseas business activities”.
Golda S. Benjamin, Program Director of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre says: China’s image as a responsible major power is at risk of being tarnished “if the government and companies do not adequately focus on the urgent need for action to address human rights risks in their overseas projects”. The NGO calls for “effective human rights due diligence” by Chinese companies and “appropriate grievance mechanisms to enable victims of human rights abuses” to pursue claims for compensation and legal action.
China will not tighten its climate plans in the short term, despite Monday’s alarming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. China’s foreign ministry proclaimed “full confidence in the implementation of China’s climate action,” news agency AFP reported Tuesday. In July, China missed a deadline to send updated 2030 mitigation plans to the United Nations. The People’s Republic plans to peak emissions before 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2060.
China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua recently announced that the government would publish strategy papers and detailed implementation plans for reducing emissions before the global climate summit in November. Xie announced a framework focusing on ten areas. These include the reduction of the use of fossil fuels, a low-CO2 building and mobility sector, green finance, further improvement of emissions trading (as reported by China.Table) and generally promoting green and low-CO2 technologies and innovations. Following its rapid economic rise, China is now the world’s largest CO2 emitter in absolute terms – not per capita. Accordingly, emissions must fall again quickly in order to achieve climate goals. nib
The relationship between action movie star Jackie Chan and his hometown of Hong Kong was once a very special one. People loved the actor for his martial arts, his move, and his role as an ambassador for the city, whose image he helped shape since the 1980s as a comedic gadfly with outstanding kung fu skills. As a child, he even acted alongside legendary Bruce Lee, and many considered him his legitimate successor.
Jackie Chan, whose Chinese name is Cheng Long, is also outside of China, synonymous with the cultural creativity of the metropolis. However, Chan, who has starred in around 200 movies, has since dramatically lost the affection of many of his Hong Kong compatriots over recent years. Most recently, he caused outrage and head shaking in July when he told his audience at a China Film Association symposium in the People’s Republic, “I’m very lucky to be a Chinese person, but I also am very jealous that you all are Party members. I just think the Chinese Communist Party is really so magnificent.” What the Party said and promised it would accomplish in a few decades, while other (parties) would take 100 years to do it: “I want to be a Party member!”
It was not the first acknowledgment by the 67-year-old of the CCP’s monopoly on power and its increasing influence over his hometown. In 2009, he had once mischievously remarked that he was no longer sure whether freedom was good or not. He had gradually come to realize the importance of Chinese people living under strict control. “Otherwise, we’ll do what we want. Just look at road traffic,” he said. He appeared on state television as a regular guest on the New Year’s show, and in 2008 he was part of the Olympic torch relay heading to Beijing.
Hong Kong’s love was already beginning to crumble. By 2019 at the latest, it had turned to pure hatred among many of the city’s pro-democracy citizens when Chan publicly condemned the protest movement. Later, Chan, like many other celebrities in the city, signed a joint statement claiming that the introduction of the National Security Law for Hong Kong was an urgent tool to restore stability and peace in the city.
He had already fallen out with many Taiwanese citizens much earlier, after calling the 2004 presidential election in the island state “the biggest joke”. A few years later, during a promotional tour to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory, he faced a lot of hostility. Demonstrators waited for him at the airport, urging him to “Get lost”.
His support for the authoritarian policies of the CCP eventually turned into a political mission. Since 2013, Chan has been a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing. As such, he has the opportunity to introduce proposals into the policy-making process of the People’s Republic. In turn, the party and state media use his name to popularize their policies in Hong Kong and around the globe. Another example is professional basketball player Yao Ming, who has tens of millions of fans in China, and since the end of his career has been used as a poster boy for the authoritarian regime. For no one dares to turn down an invitation to the Consultative Conference, not unless he or she wants to be perceived at least as ungrateful or, at worst, even as a dissident.
The commercial consequences for celebrities can be devastating should they choose not to follow the Party’s will, as John Lee of the Hudson Institute in Washington told Vice Magazine about the Jackie Chan case. “There are potentially serious commercial consequences for celebrities and entertainment executives who make sensitive comments that are deemed as being critical of China and the Communist Party,” Lee says. Especially when their own movies rely on whopping revenues at the Chinese box office. While Hong Kong stars like Chan have opted to kowtow, actor Chow Yun-fat (The Assassins, Pirates of the Caribbean) or singer Denise Ho have been punished with exile from the Chinese market for supporting the pro-democracy movement.
Jackie Chan is not only an actor, but also an entrepreneur. His film production company and cinema chain are also active in China. Chan has promised to donate half of his fortune of several hundred million US dollars posthumously to good causes. His own foundation aims to provide young people in Hong Kong with better educational opportunities. He is also committed to the welfare of endangered species. The sheen of his philanthropy was scratched, however, when his name came up in 2016 in connection with the publication of the Panama Papers. Through an obscure law company, he owned six companies managed in tax havens. A legal practice, but for many ordinary mortals, it was reason enough to accuse him of contributing to social inequality in the world.
In the meantime, Chan subtly promotes changes among the world’s major powers in his movies. Take, for example, the 2010 remake of Karate Kid, which Chan also directed and starred as a Beijing janitor introducing an African-American boy who immigrated from the US to the world of kung fu. In one scene, the boy, talking to his single mother from the US working class, laments that he wants to go back home. Her response: “This is our home.” The idea of portraying China as a country of immigration, as the U.S. is for Chinese, might seem hilarious – but is pure fiction for the time being
But who knows how the world will develop; perhaps the People’s Republic will soon become dependent on wage labor from abroad because of its demographic change. Thirty years ago, no one would have expected Jackie Chan to support an authoritarian regime. A week before the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, Chan attended the benefit Concert for Democracy in China at the Hong Kong Happy Valley Racecourse, in which all the artists had volunteered to take part. grz
A food delivery man checks new orders on an empty street in Zhangjiajie, Hunan. Since last Tuesday, residents and tourists have not been allowed to leave the central Chinese city in an effort to contain the recent local Covid outbreak. Delivery services are providing people with essential supplies such as food and medical products. Zhangjiajie is located near a national park with globally unique quartzite sandstone formations, considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
