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Signs of Forced Labor Found in China’s EV Battery Supply Chain: Report


The New York Times reports that hundreds of Uighurs are working for a mining corporation that produces raw materials for electric vehicles.

Than Longquan | Visual China Corporation | beautiful pictures

Chinese companies that make materials for electric vehicle batteries show signs of using forced labor, according to a report from The New York Times.

The newspaper reported that the Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals mining group employs hundreds of Uighurs, an ethnic minority in China, as part of a so-called job transfer program.

The Times reported that China had acknowledged running such a program to move Uighurs and other ethnic minorities north from southern Xinjiang to work in industrial jobs.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The US State Department has previously noted, citing an independent researcher, that displaced workers are at risk of forced labor. It was also previously cited Chinese scholarly publications that “the transfer of labor is described as an important means of dividing Uyghur society and minimizing the ‘negative’ impact of religion.”

In social media posts translated by the Times, Xinjiang Nonferrous said workers from mostly Muslim minorities had been lectured on how to “eradicate religious extremism” and become workers “accept their Chinese homeland.”

Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied that the country detains or enslaves Uighurs. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: claims about forced labor in Xinjiang are a “huge lie created by anti-China forces to smear China.” He said the rights of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are reasonably protected.

Xinjiang Nonferrous Metals Industry produces minerals and metals, including lithium, nickel and copper. It exported the metal to the United States, Germany, Britain, Japan and India, the Times reported. However, the New York Times reports that it is not yet clear whether these relationships are ongoing.

The report was published on the eve of Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in force in the United States. The law bans goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang from entering the US market.

The Times reports that thousands of companies may have some links to Xinjiang in their supply chains. If fully enforced, many products, including some needed for electric vehicles, could be halted at the border.

Read full report on the New York Times.



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