Enforcing Bans on Forced Labor in Xinjiang 2023

WM Trade: Modernizing Customs Policies to Protect American Workers and Secure Supply Chains, March 25, 2023

Sadly, my comments from 2020 still largely apply regarding both China and the U.S. labor markets. The only real change is that China’s Belt Road, like the rest of its economy, is collapsing. This affects the leverage the developing world has, but may increase ours - although that is also a danger.

WM Trade,  Enforcing the Ban on Imports Produced by Forced Labor in Xinjiang, September 17, 2020 

Boycotting the products of slavery worked in fighting the Confederacy. The mass migration of slaves had more of an impact. A boycott of Xinjiang cotton and tomatoes is problematic during a pandemic, but generally it cannot succeed as a stand-alone action. Even though it may hurt in the short run, we should still do it. 

To make a boycott work, we cannot do it alone. At minimum, Islamic nations must join in as well and start linking the cause of the Uyghurs to the New Silk Road. The ethnic Turkmen range from modern Turkey to Xinjiang, so a little solidarity on their part could go a long way. If we do go this route, the whole effort to interfere in Iran must end. We cannot be with South Asian Muslims on some things and expect solidarity with them on others.

2020 only: I doubt current American foreign policy is nimble enough to adapt to such a change. If it cannot, then we must bow to Realpolitik and accept that Xinjaing is part of the Chinese sphere of influence, just as Ukraine is part of Russia’s. (until the invasion - although there may be a lesson here.)

On the moral front, I am not sure we have room to talk. We hold migrants in stark conditions prior to deportation. If you doubt it, visit Lewisburg Federal Prison. Also stop in the Federal Prison Industries factory while you are there. Visit any food processing plant with large immigrant workforces (send people undercover) and see how many workers were trafficked and how local law enforcement reacts when they decide they want to leave. Examine the plight of sex workers in the United States and see how many of their pimps have arrangements with local police.

Our best weapon is our example. As long as slavery exists in the United States, our moral voice is compromised. Again, I am not saying to ignore this situation. I am saying to All In to really fight slavery. Also, call it slavery. On the same subject, examine the Chinese treatment of peasant workers at their factories. There is a two-level society, and American consumers benefit from this. Our commitment to abolishing slavery cannot live only in the fringes.