A good nine years ago, the local government of Xinjiang set out to develop the predominantly Uyghur autonomous region, into an “important westward-oriented location for automobile production.” Companies were lured by rent-free contracts, subsidies, and cheap labor costs. That the latter could be kept so low was not least due to the use of forced laborers. Early on, the local government presented an 87-point plan that included the use of inmates from internment and re-education camps in the economic program.
A new study from Great Britain shows which Chinese companies resorted to this and also smuggled products from forced labor into Western supply chains in this way. Christian Domke Seidel took a closer look. His conclusion: Anyone who builds cars or sources parts for their factories in China has most likely been complicit in human rights violations.
In China’s state media, on the other hand, Xinjiang is still presented primarily as a place of flourishing landscapes. The minorities are dancing, the economy is growing, and the state is caring for its population. Anyone who says otherwise is part of a conspiracy of “fact-twisting, anti-Chinese forces,” as numerous Chinese embassies around the world posted almost simultaneously on their online channels in 2021.
A new campaign, launched at the beginning of April, now aims at further rallying China’s people to the one true line. “The Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” – as usual, an unwieldy name – has been chanted up and down on China’s state media since the beginning of the week. For the 96 million party members, it is now clear what their most crucial mandatory program will be from now on. The thoughts of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping are finally taking a back seat to Xi Jinping’s ideology, writes Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. Xi’s much-vaunted new era can only have one guiding star. Himself.
Anyone building cars or sourcing parts for their factories in China is most likely to come into contact with forced labor. The study “Driving Force – Automotive Supply Chains and Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region” has named the Chinese companies that benefit from forced labor and traced the supply chains to Western car brands.
That the global automotive market is no longer conceivable without China is primarily due to raw materials, basic materials, and individual parts – i.e. copper, steel, aluminum or batteries. The production of these parts is labor- and energy-intensive. A problem that the Chinese government has also recognized. Their solution was to move processing to Xinjiang. Although there is hardly any mining, the Uyghur region is the third largest location for the processing of non-ferrous metals – i.e. metals that do not contain iron, such as copper, lead, and zinc.
This development began in 2014 when the Uyghur economic commission decided to “develop Xinjiang into an important and westward-oriented location for automobile manufacturing.” Since the region is remote, the government created incentives for the companies such as rent-free, subsidized supply or infrastructure measures. The regional capital of Urumqi presented a total of 87 perquisites.
According to the study, the promised low labor costs also result from the forced labor of the Uyghur population. This takes place in four forms:
A car consists of up to 30,000 parts. When all stages of the value chain and supply chains are considered, as many as 18,000 companies are involved, according to consulting firm McKinsey. “Manufacturers have indicated that thorough supply chain tracing is out of reach and that understanding the situation in the Uyghur region is a challenge,” the study says. It thus aims to serve as a starting point to identify the parts and materials most at risk.
Aluminum: In 2021, 67 million tons of aluminum were produced worldwide – 39 million of them in China, eight million in Xinjiang. This means 12 percent of the world’s demand originates from the Uyghur region. A total of eight global aluminum producers manufacture there, including Joinworld. The company is considered a leader in the production of high-purity aluminum. The study lists several labor-sourcing programs in which Joinworld is involved. Among them are government labor transfers. Joinworld’s marketing department lists BMW as a buyer of its engine blocks. It is also a supplier to Jingwei Group, which sells its parts for brakes and clutches to VW, Ford, and Beijing Benz, among others.
Steel: An average passenger car contains around 800 kilograms of steel – mainly in the frame, the chassis, and the powertrain. The world’s largest producer is the state-owned Baowu Group. Its subsidiary in the Uyghur region is called Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel. The company itself and local state media have reported thousands of forced work transfers. In addition, there are 4,581 workers from local minorities to whom the company has assigned Han Chinese as new “relatives.” This so-called pairing is a move to suppress Uyghur culture and push for their assimilation. Baowu’s customers include Mitsubishi, General Motors, and Toyota. In addition, there is the joint venture Tailor Welded Blanks, through which Baowu sells steel to VW, Ford, and Fiat.
Copper: Copper is used in cars as a rust inhibitor, electromechanical connector, and for wiring ABS and brake sensors. As EVs require more copper, experts estimate that consumption will increase by around 250 percent by 2030. China has only a few copper mines (nine percent of the world market) but handles 41 percent of the processing. This is done, among others, by the state-owned Xinjiang Nonferrous Group, which has several subsidiaries in the region. The corporation has participated in various programs in which Uyghurs had their land taken and traditional houses demolished. Minority labor transfer and retraining projects, which have included the use of force, have often been implemented here first. Nonferrous’ products enter the world market through subsidiaries and stakes in wholesalers.
Tires: Dushanzi Petrochemical Company (subsidiary of PetroChina) produces synthetic rubber. On the one hand, the company participates in pairing programs and profits from the forced transfer of poorer people, who are thus supposed to be able to work on farms. To “fight poverty,” the corporation also sends “surplus labor” to work in oil fields. State media report that Bridgestone, Michelin, Pirelli, and Kumho, among others, buy Dushanzi Petrochemical Company’s products.
Batteries: China has a leading role in battery production in the automotive sector. This involves not only lithium-ion batteries for EVs but also lead-acid batteries for ordinary combustion engines. One of the largest manufacturers is the Camel Group. It has participated in a three-year plan for the organized transfer of urban and rural “surplus labor.” People had to go through “closed vocational training,” which included ideological re-education. Camel Group advertises selling its batteries to VW, Ford, Audi, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Jeep, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, and Citroën.
Electronics: research found that between 2017 and 2019 alone, at least 80,000 Uyghurs and other minorities were displaced from their home communities to factories in other parts of China to work in the electronics industry. In July 2021, the US government called the “involuntary transfer” for the automotive and electronics industries concerning. Ningbo Joyson Electronics, among others, took advantage of these transfers. The company is headquartered in Zhejiang province south of Shanghai. It manufactures automotive central control systems and sells airbags, seat belts, steering wheels, and related components through a subsidiary (Joyson Automotive Safety Systems). The company lists Audi, Bentley, BMW, Daimler, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Porsche, and Tesla among its customers on its corporate website. Additionally, there are many other Western car manufacturers.
Interior: The Xinjiang Guanghui Group produces, among other things, upholstery for seats and floor mats. The group also has various subsidiaries that produce electronic parts for interiors. The Group has built an industrial complex to provide jobs for poorer people. The people come from rural areas, are all minorities, and are sometimes housed in the neighboring internment camp. It is unclear to whom the products are delivered. However, due to the scale of the labor transfers and the close proximity to major suppliers, the study says there is a “high risk” that the company’s parts will also be found in Western vehicles.
Even by the standards of Chinese state media, the character of CP leader Xi 习 has been appearing unusually often on the front pages since the end of last week. The reason is a new ideological campaign launched by the ruler himself. “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” is the theme of a continuing education campaign for all 96 million Party members. It puts Xi at the center of all Chinese Communist Party activities more than ever.
On Tuesday, the People’s Daily followed up with a report on a lengthy speech by Xi on the campaign to firmly establish his own thinking in people’s minds. Among other things, party members are to
The start of the campaign was preceded by a Politburo meeting at the end of last week that formally approved the project. It is difficult to assume that the campaign was planned long in advance. In any case, the propaganda media were well prepared. The television station CCTV reported on it for 16 minutes on the Monday evening news.
One focus of the new ideology is on the greater integrity of the party and its actions. Xi said service to the people should be done in an incorruptible manner. Party members should maintain discipline, abide by the rules and not seek personal gain.
In the flood of articles on the major campaign, the main issue is indeed how faithfully party members should apply Xi’s Thought in the future. Less space is given to its concrete content, which can apparently be expected amoung graduates of the party school.
In 2018, the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been given constitutional status. It is to adapt Marxism, which has its roots in 19th-century Europe, to the conditions in China today.
Xi is not the first Chinese leader to impose his world of thought on the entire country. Mao Zedong’s ideology, cited as the intellectual foundation of the People’s Republic not long ago, is notorious. Mao, however, put revolution at the center. Xi, on the other hand, has no need for revolution; he is more concerned with obedience, discipline, and allegiance. Accordingly, Mao’s thoughts largely disappeared from the discourse.
Other great minds that Xi’s predecessors still referred to also no longer appear prominently. The reference to the Deng Xiaoping theory is missing, as is the doctrine of the Threefold Represents (三个代表) of the former Head of State Jiang Zemin. Henceforth, there will be only Xi in the minds of party members. China observer Bill Bishop now suspects that propaganda will soon shorten the long formula of Chinese socialism simply to “Xi Jinping Thought.” However, Xi had not yet been able to push this through at the party congress.
Coinciding with the start of the campaign, all Chinese and foreigners have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Xi’s Thought. The People’s Publishing House is bringing out a new book series with selected works by Xi. The texts are presumably already included in Xi’s previous publications, for which he collects a share of the proceeds as the author. Now China’s authorities, companies, and citizens will have to buy the same material a second time with a focus on Xi’s Thought for a new era.
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and concrete business activities in the People’s Republic.
The New Development Bank (NDB) has a prominent new head: Brazil’s former President Dilma Rousseff. The 75-year-old arrived in Shanghai last week to take up her post at the helm of the bank. The BRICS nations Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa jointly founded the NDB in 2015.
The institute, therefore also called the BRICS Bank, is probably the most successful project the Confederation of States has launched so far. It is an alternative to existing Western financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
For Rousseff, a party colleague of the new old President Luiz Inácia Lula da Silva, the new post is an unexpected comeback. Her presidency in Brazil, which she started as Lula’s successor, ended in 2016 after impeachment proceedings. At the time, Rousseff allegedly manipulated the budget to increase her re-election chances. Her government faced numerous allegations of corruption; however, her tenure was also marked by efforts to fight poverty in the country. Born in Belo Horizonte, Rousseff comes from a middle-class family herself: Her father was a lawyer who immigrated to Brazil from Bulgaria, and her mother was a teacher. She worked for Lula from 2002 and initially became Energy Minister after his election victory.
Brazil had already taken over the rotating, five-year chairmanship of the BRICS Bank in 2020. That Rousseff is now given another chance in Shanghai despite her controversial past has to do with the changed political circumstances in her home country: Lula has been President again for several months. And while the previous Head of the bank, Marcos Troyjo, belonged to the camp of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula preferred to see the post filled by his close confidante Rousseff. Rousseff can now lead the bank until 2025. Then Brazil will pass on the presidency.
In her thus only relatively short term in office, Rousseff faces difficult tasks. On the one hand, the NDB can certainly point to successes: According to its figures, it has already provided $32.8 billion in financing for 96 projects in member countries over the past nine years. In addition, four more countries could be convinced to membership: Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Uruguay.
However, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has put the BRICKS bank in a difficult position. In order to continue raising money on the international capital markets, all new projects with member state Russia were put on hold. Nevertheless, Fitch, for example, downgraded NDB’s rating. The reason given for the move was that around 13 percent of loans to date had gone to Russian projects and that Moscow was one of the founding members. Russia’s prominent role in the NDB “could discourage future members from joining the bank,” Fitch warns. Joern Petring
This scene from the Xixi Wetlands, a national park with rivers and ponds close to the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, looks like something out of a historical film. Last weekend, numerous people gathered there to celebrate the beginning of spring as photogenically as possible in imperial-era fashion. The so-called Hanfu trend is becoming more and more popular, especially among young Chinese women. Some even wear the flowing silk robes when they go shopping in China’s city centers. State media speak of “China chic” and a “new cultural self-confidence.
A good nine years ago, the local government of Xinjiang set out to develop the predominantly Uyghur autonomous region, into an “important westward-oriented location for automobile production.” Companies were lured by rent-free contracts, subsidies, and cheap labor costs. That the latter could be kept so low was not least due to the use of forced laborers. Early on, the local government presented an 87-point plan that included the use of inmates from internment and re-education camps in the economic program.
A new study from Great Britain shows which Chinese companies resorted to this and also smuggled products from forced labor into Western supply chains in this way. Christian Domke Seidel took a closer look. His conclusion: Anyone who builds cars or sources parts for their factories in China has most likely been complicit in human rights violations.
In China’s state media, on the other hand, Xinjiang is still presented primarily as a place of flourishing landscapes. The minorities are dancing, the economy is growing, and the state is caring for its population. Anyone who says otherwise is part of a conspiracy of “fact-twisting, anti-Chinese forces,” as numerous Chinese embassies around the world posted almost simultaneously on their online channels in 2021.
A new campaign, launched at the beginning of April, now aims at further rallying China’s people to the one true line. “The Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” – as usual, an unwieldy name – has been chanted up and down on China’s state media since the beginning of the week. For the 96 million party members, it is now clear what their most crucial mandatory program will be from now on. The thoughts of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping are finally taking a back seat to Xi Jinping’s ideology, writes Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. Xi’s much-vaunted new era can only have one guiding star. Himself.
Anyone building cars or sourcing parts for their factories in China is most likely to come into contact with forced labor. The study “Driving Force – Automotive Supply Chains and Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region” has named the Chinese companies that benefit from forced labor and traced the supply chains to Western car brands.
That the global automotive market is no longer conceivable without China is primarily due to raw materials, basic materials, and individual parts – i.e. copper, steel, aluminum or batteries. The production of these parts is labor- and energy-intensive. A problem that the Chinese government has also recognized. Their solution was to move processing to Xinjiang. Although there is hardly any mining, the Uyghur region is the third largest location for the processing of non-ferrous metals – i.e. metals that do not contain iron, such as copper, lead, and zinc.
This development began in 2014 when the Uyghur economic commission decided to “develop Xinjiang into an important and westward-oriented location for automobile manufacturing.” Since the region is remote, the government created incentives for the companies such as rent-free, subsidized supply or infrastructure measures. The regional capital of Urumqi presented a total of 87 perquisites.
According to the study, the promised low labor costs also result from the forced labor of the Uyghur population. This takes place in four forms:
A car consists of up to 30,000 parts. When all stages of the value chain and supply chains are considered, as many as 18,000 companies are involved, according to consulting firm McKinsey. “Manufacturers have indicated that thorough supply chain tracing is out of reach and that understanding the situation in the Uyghur region is a challenge,” the study says. It thus aims to serve as a starting point to identify the parts and materials most at risk.
Aluminum: In 2021, 67 million tons of aluminum were produced worldwide – 39 million of them in China, eight million in Xinjiang. This means 12 percent of the world’s demand originates from the Uyghur region. A total of eight global aluminum producers manufacture there, including Joinworld. The company is considered a leader in the production of high-purity aluminum. The study lists several labor-sourcing programs in which Joinworld is involved. Among them are government labor transfers. Joinworld’s marketing department lists BMW as a buyer of its engine blocks. It is also a supplier to Jingwei Group, which sells its parts for brakes and clutches to VW, Ford, and Beijing Benz, among others.
Steel: An average passenger car contains around 800 kilograms of steel – mainly in the frame, the chassis, and the powertrain. The world’s largest producer is the state-owned Baowu Group. Its subsidiary in the Uyghur region is called Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel. The company itself and local state media have reported thousands of forced work transfers. In addition, there are 4,581 workers from local minorities to whom the company has assigned Han Chinese as new “relatives.” This so-called pairing is a move to suppress Uyghur culture and push for their assimilation. Baowu’s customers include Mitsubishi, General Motors, and Toyota. In addition, there is the joint venture Tailor Welded Blanks, through which Baowu sells steel to VW, Ford, and Fiat.
Copper: Copper is used in cars as a rust inhibitor, electromechanical connector, and for wiring ABS and brake sensors. As EVs require more copper, experts estimate that consumption will increase by around 250 percent by 2030. China has only a few copper mines (nine percent of the world market) but handles 41 percent of the processing. This is done, among others, by the state-owned Xinjiang Nonferrous Group, which has several subsidiaries in the region. The corporation has participated in various programs in which Uyghurs had their land taken and traditional houses demolished. Minority labor transfer and retraining projects, which have included the use of force, have often been implemented here first. Nonferrous’ products enter the world market through subsidiaries and stakes in wholesalers.
Tires: Dushanzi Petrochemical Company (subsidiary of PetroChina) produces synthetic rubber. On the one hand, the company participates in pairing programs and profits from the forced transfer of poorer people, who are thus supposed to be able to work on farms. To “fight poverty,” the corporation also sends “surplus labor” to work in oil fields. State media report that Bridgestone, Michelin, Pirelli, and Kumho, among others, buy Dushanzi Petrochemical Company’s products.
Batteries: China has a leading role in battery production in the automotive sector. This involves not only lithium-ion batteries for EVs but also lead-acid batteries for ordinary combustion engines. One of the largest manufacturers is the Camel Group. It has participated in a three-year plan for the organized transfer of urban and rural “surplus labor.” People had to go through “closed vocational training,” which included ideological re-education. Camel Group advertises selling its batteries to VW, Ford, Audi, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Jeep, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, and Citroën.
Electronics: research found that between 2017 and 2019 alone, at least 80,000 Uyghurs and other minorities were displaced from their home communities to factories in other parts of China to work in the electronics industry. In July 2021, the US government called the “involuntary transfer” for the automotive and electronics industries concerning. Ningbo Joyson Electronics, among others, took advantage of these transfers. The company is headquartered in Zhejiang province south of Shanghai. It manufactures automotive central control systems and sells airbags, seat belts, steering wheels, and related components through a subsidiary (Joyson Automotive Safety Systems). The company lists Audi, Bentley, BMW, Daimler, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Porsche, and Tesla among its customers on its corporate website. Additionally, there are many other Western car manufacturers.
Interior: The Xinjiang Guanghui Group produces, among other things, upholstery for seats and floor mats. The group also has various subsidiaries that produce electronic parts for interiors. The Group has built an industrial complex to provide jobs for poorer people. The people come from rural areas, are all minorities, and are sometimes housed in the neighboring internment camp. It is unclear to whom the products are delivered. However, due to the scale of the labor transfers and the close proximity to major suppliers, the study says there is a “high risk” that the company’s parts will also be found in Western vehicles.
Even by the standards of Chinese state media, the character of CP leader Xi 习 has been appearing unusually often on the front pages since the end of last week. The reason is a new ideological campaign launched by the ruler himself. “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” is the theme of a continuing education campaign for all 96 million Party members. It puts Xi at the center of all Chinese Communist Party activities more than ever.
On Tuesday, the People’s Daily followed up with a report on a lengthy speech by Xi on the campaign to firmly establish his own thinking in people’s minds. Among other things, party members are to
The start of the campaign was preceded by a Politburo meeting at the end of last week that formally approved the project. It is difficult to assume that the campaign was planned long in advance. In any case, the propaganda media were well prepared. The television station CCTV reported on it for 16 minutes on the Monday evening news.
One focus of the new ideology is on the greater integrity of the party and its actions. Xi said service to the people should be done in an incorruptible manner. Party members should maintain discipline, abide by the rules and not seek personal gain.
In the flood of articles on the major campaign, the main issue is indeed how faithfully party members should apply Xi’s Thought in the future. Less space is given to its concrete content, which can apparently be expected amoung graduates of the party school.
In 2018, the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has been given constitutional status. It is to adapt Marxism, which has its roots in 19th-century Europe, to the conditions in China today.
Xi is not the first Chinese leader to impose his world of thought on the entire country. Mao Zedong’s ideology, cited as the intellectual foundation of the People’s Republic not long ago, is notorious. Mao, however, put revolution at the center. Xi, on the other hand, has no need for revolution; he is more concerned with obedience, discipline, and allegiance. Accordingly, Mao’s thoughts largely disappeared from the discourse.
Other great minds that Xi’s predecessors still referred to also no longer appear prominently. The reference to the Deng Xiaoping theory is missing, as is the doctrine of the Threefold Represents (三个代表) of the former Head of State Jiang Zemin. Henceforth, there will be only Xi in the minds of party members. China observer Bill Bishop now suspects that propaganda will soon shorten the long formula of Chinese socialism simply to “Xi Jinping Thought.” However, Xi had not yet been able to push this through at the party congress.
Coinciding with the start of the campaign, all Chinese and foreigners have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of Xi’s Thought. The People’s Publishing House is bringing out a new book series with selected works by Xi. The texts are presumably already included in Xi’s previous publications, for which he collects a share of the proceeds as the author. Now China’s authorities, companies, and citizens will have to buy the same material a second time with a focus on Xi’s Thought for a new era.
Sinolytics is a European research-based consultancy entirely focused on China. It advises European companies on their strategic orientation and concrete business activities in the People’s Republic.
The New Development Bank (NDB) has a prominent new head: Brazil’s former President Dilma Rousseff. The 75-year-old arrived in Shanghai last week to take up her post at the helm of the bank. The BRICS nations Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa jointly founded the NDB in 2015.
The institute, therefore also called the BRICS Bank, is probably the most successful project the Confederation of States has launched so far. It is an alternative to existing Western financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
For Rousseff, a party colleague of the new old President Luiz Inácia Lula da Silva, the new post is an unexpected comeback. Her presidency in Brazil, which she started as Lula’s successor, ended in 2016 after impeachment proceedings. At the time, Rousseff allegedly manipulated the budget to increase her re-election chances. Her government faced numerous allegations of corruption; however, her tenure was also marked by efforts to fight poverty in the country. Born in Belo Horizonte, Rousseff comes from a middle-class family herself: Her father was a lawyer who immigrated to Brazil from Bulgaria, and her mother was a teacher. She worked for Lula from 2002 and initially became Energy Minister after his election victory.
Brazil had already taken over the rotating, five-year chairmanship of the BRICS Bank in 2020. That Rousseff is now given another chance in Shanghai despite her controversial past has to do with the changed political circumstances in her home country: Lula has been President again for several months. And while the previous Head of the bank, Marcos Troyjo, belonged to the camp of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula preferred to see the post filled by his close confidante Rousseff. Rousseff can now lead the bank until 2025. Then Brazil will pass on the presidency.
In her thus only relatively short term in office, Rousseff faces difficult tasks. On the one hand, the NDB can certainly point to successes: According to its figures, it has already provided $32.8 billion in financing for 96 projects in member countries over the past nine years. In addition, four more countries could be convinced to membership: Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Uruguay.
However, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has put the BRICKS bank in a difficult position. In order to continue raising money on the international capital markets, all new projects with member state Russia were put on hold. Nevertheless, Fitch, for example, downgraded NDB’s rating. The reason given for the move was that around 13 percent of loans to date had gone to Russian projects and that Moscow was one of the founding members. Russia’s prominent role in the NDB “could discourage future members from joining the bank,” Fitch warns. Joern Petring
This scene from the Xixi Wetlands, a national park with rivers and ponds close to the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, looks like something out of a historical film. Last weekend, numerous people gathered there to celebrate the beginning of spring as photogenically as possible in imperial-era fashion. The so-called Hanfu trend is becoming more and more popular, especially among young Chinese women. Some even wear the flowing silk robes when they go shopping in China’s city centers. State media speak of “China chic” and a “new cultural self-confidence.
