As the Biden administration pushes people to convert to electric vehicles, it may be pressuring the import of car batteries made in China.
Unfortunately for Team Biden, there is evidence suggesting that these batteries are being made by slave labor.
The photograph on the mining conglomerate’s social media account showed 70 ethnic Uyghur workers standing at attention under the flag of the People’s Republic of China. It was March 2020 and the recruits would soon undergo training in management, etiquette and “loving the party and the country,” their new employer, the Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal Industry Group, announced.But this was no ordinary worker orientation. It was the kind of program that human rights groups and U.S. officials consider a red flag for forced labor in China’s western Xinjiang region, where the Communist authorities have detained or imprisoned more than 1 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other largely Muslim minorities.
This information really harshes the narrative put out by environmental activists about how green energy is going to make life better for everyone.
Of course, Chinese officials denied the charges vigorously.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly denied that the country imprisons or enslaves Uyghurs. On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the claims of forced labor in Xinjiang are a “huge lie made up by anti-China forces to denigrate China.” He said the rights of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are duly protected.Xinjiang Nonferrous Metal Industry produces minerals and metals, including lithium, nickel and copper. It has exported metals to the United States, Germany, U.K., Japan and India, the Times reported. It’s unclear whether these relationships are ongoing, however, the New York Times reported.
To combat this disturbing abuse of humanity, a new law, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, has just been implemented. It will bar products that were made in Xinjiang or have ties to the work programs there from entering the country.
Under the rules, firms have to prove imports from the region are not produced using forced labour.US officials have said members of the minority Uyghur community in the region, who are predominantly Muslim, have been detained and made to work.China has repeatedly rejected accusations that it is holding Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang.Several imports from the resource-rich region, including cotton and tomatoes, have already been banned from the US.
This move will likely place a strain on the car battery supply chain, which has already experienced disruptions. A car battery shortage to appears not only possible, but probable.
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