Chinese Ambassador To Aotearoa Denies Uyghur Atrocities With Disinformation

“In an interview with Jack Tame on Sunday's Q+A programme, China’s ambassador to Aotearoa, Wang Xiaolong, deflected enquiry into his government's forced labour atrocities against the Uyghur people with disinformation and blatant propaganda,” said Sam Vincent, spokesperson for Uyghur Solidarity Aotearoa.

“The widespread state-sponsored forced labour faced by China’s minority Uyghur population has been documented by the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation, and numerous academic experts and non-governmental organisations,” said Vincent.

“Uyghurs are routinely forced into work placements as a form of ‘graduation’ from indoctrination camps, or through the government’s labour transfer programme for rural workers,” said Vincent.

According to the UN Special Rapporteur on modern slavery, Uyghurs subject to forced labour face “excessive surveillance, abusive living and working conditions, restriction of movement through internment, threats, physical and/or sexual violence and other inhuman or degrading treatment”.

“The UN Special Rapporteur found that some instances may amount to enslavement as a crime against humanity,” said Vincent.

“When confronted during Q+A with the UN Special Rapporteur’s findings, Mr Wang disparaged the Special Rapporteur as a person ‘not living up to his responsibility’ who had made ‘generic accusations without any evidence to back it up’,” said Vincent. “He went on to accuse the Special Rapporteur of ‘smear tactics’.”

“Contrary to Mr Wang’s claims on Q+A, the UN Special Rapporteur’s findings were substantiated by numerous independent researchers and a significant body of evidence,” said Vincent.

“Mr Wang referred to the Chinese government’s recent ratification of international treaties on forced labour as a demonstration of their ‘firm commitment to stamp out completely forced labour in China’,” said Vincent.

“Ambassador Wang has not been honest with the New Zealand public,” said Vincent. “There can be no denial that his government has sponsored an extensive system of forced labour targeting the Uyghur people. They have no intention of stamping out forced labour in China - quite the opposite.”

“Uyghurs in forced labour are subject to constant surveillance, ideological indoctrination, and retribution for religious expression,” said Vincent. “They are forcibly relocated to work away from their loved ones, and children are often placed in the custody of the state. The forced labour programme is a vital component of the Chinese government’s project to destroy the Uyghur culture.”

“We have to take action to stop Uyghur forced labour products from getting onto our shelves, because the New Zealand public do not want to be complicit in this crime against humanity,” said Vincent.

“As the United States has done, we should impose a ban on the import of all products from the Uyghur region in the absence of proof that those products are not tainted with forced labour,” said Vincent.

“We urge Minister Michael Wood and the Labour Party Government to create strong modern slavery legislation that will lead to supply chain changes away from Uyghur forced labour,” said Vincent.

Sources:

Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Tomoya Obokata. 19 July 2022

Download link: https://daccess-ods.un.org/tmp/5214290.61889648.html

Sources provided by the UN Special Rapporteur as follows:

A/HRC/50/33, para. 37;

communication CHN 18/2020, available at https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=25545;

joint submission by Anti-Slavery International, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Uyghur Human Rights Project and World Uyghur Congress;

Application of International Labour Standards 2022: Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of the Conventions and Recommendations, International Labour Conference, 110th Session, 2022 (International Labour Office, Geneva, 2022);

Uyghur Tribunal, Judgment, 9 December 2021; Amy K. Lehr and Mariefaye Bechrakis, “Connecting the dots in Xinjiang: forced labor, forced assimilation, and western supply chains” (Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2019); Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, “Uyghurs for sale: ‘re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang” (International Cyber Policy Centre, 2020);

Laura T.Murphy and Nyrola Elimä, In Broad Daylight: Uyghur Forced Labour and Global Solar Supply Chains (Sheffield Hallam University Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, 2021);

Laura T. Murphy and others, Laundering Cotton: How Xinjiang Cotton is Obscured in International Supply Chains (Sheffield Hallam University and Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, 2021);

Adrian Zenz, “Coercive labour in Xinjiang: labor transfer and the mobilization of ethnic minorities to pick cotton” (Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, 2020);

Adrian Zenz, “Unemployment monitoring and early warning: new trends in Xinjiang’s coercive labour placement systems”, early warning brief, 5 June 2022;

and Special Rapporteur consultation with stakeholders, including victims (May 2022).

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, December 23, 2021. https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA

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