A Chinese Communist Party official who claimed that Peng Shuai was too ‘tall’ and ‘strong’ to have been raped also participated.
A Chinese Communist Party official who claimed that Peng Shuai was too ‘tall’ and ‘strong’ to have been raped also participated.
A U.N. summit this week placed Chinese forced labor and other human-rights violations at the top of the agenda — by honoring some of the business executives complicit in enabling such abuses.
At the U.N. Global Compact’s two-day “leaders summit,” the heads of two firms with links to China’s forced-labor abuses in Xinjiang participated in a virtual panel to launch the initiative’s China strategy. Those companies are the Esquel Group, a textile manufacturer whose Xinjiang subsidiary was blacklisted by the U.S. government, and LONGi Green Energy Technology, a solar-panel manufacturer which said U.S. customs officials seized a shipment of its goods over forced-labor concerns last year.
That U.N. compact effort is geared toward getting private enterprises to align with the international organization’s sustainable-development push. The summit this week celebrated the launch of a document describing the role that Chinese firms should play in sustainability efforts, and it followed a controversial trip to China by the U.N.’s top human-rights official.
The U.N. views China as a critical player in its efforts to meet global economic-development and environmental benchmarks, a sentiment that key officials emphasized in their remarks. The strategy document identifies Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative as a key component of the U.N.’s sustainability work.
“The sustainable-development goals cannot be achieved without China,” said Assistant Secretary-General Sanda Ojiambo, who oversees the initiative, at the start of the China panel.
By working so closely with Beijing, though, the U.N. is prioritizing those development goals over human rights, as it grants a global platform to firms linked to human-rights atrocities and some of the Chinese Communist Party’s staunchest allies.
While the virtual event was framed as an anodyne sustainability-focused gathering, it gave cover to Esquel, which is currently in the process of mounting a defense of its links to Uyghur forced labor. The textile conglomerate’s chairman, Marjorie Yang, was one of the panelists.
Notably, Esquel’s Xinjiang subsidiary was blacklisted by the U.S. government in July 2020 over its use of forced labor. The Commerce Department placed it on the “Entity List,” barring Americans from exporting goods to the subsidiary, alleging that it uses forced labor.
Since then, Esquel has vigorously contested the U.S. blacklist designation, denying in public that it uses forced labor and launching a lawsuit against the Commerce Department.
In at least one case, Esquel has used its participation in U.N. projects as a public-relations tactic to defend its reputation.
In a submission to a congressional panel in September 2020, Yang wrote that, due to its efforts on corporate social responsibility, “Esquel has been invited by the United Nations to participate in its Initiatives for Sustainable Development Actions from Businesses, among other U.N. initiatives promoting its sustainable development goals.”
The U.N.’s effort to give cover to Esquel, which received Chinese government subsidies to promote economic development in rural areas, is consistent with China’s increasing sway within the organization, an expert said.
“According to the Global Compact’s China Strategy, the U.N. views China as a partner in eliminating all forms of forced labor. It’s rather strange, then, that one of the companies (Esquel) featured in the Global Compact Leaders Summit has been blacklisted by the U.S. government for forced-labor concerns,” Michael Sobolik, a fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told National Review.
The China-strategy document states that businesses should ensure that they are not complicit in human-rights abuses.
“At one level it’s just ridiculous, but at another level it reveals the systemic penetration of the CCP throughout the U.N.,” Sobolik added.
In her remarks during the Wednesday evening event, Yang emphasized the responsibility of companies like hers in combating climate change.
“Think about how you are going to create value for the 30,000 people who are still in your employment and how you are going to fight climate change, because as we all know this is our last chance,” she said.
LONGi president Li Zhenguo also took part in the U.N. summit’s China panel. Last year, Customs and Border Protection temporarily seized a solar-panel shipment that the company later said amounted to 1.59 percent of its total exports to the U.S. That action was taken under an order that bars the import of goods manufactured using materials from a major polysilicon producer in Xinjiang.
LONGi is not currently on any U.S. sanctions lists, although members of Congress are pushing proposals that would result in its designation as a Specially Designated National, subjecting it to some of the most stringent U.S. sanctions, as NR previously reported.
While the U.N. boosted firms linked to the Uyghur genocide, Washington used the Global Compact as a platform through which to hit Beijing’s human-rights atrocities.
During her remarks to a plenary session of the conference earlier the same day, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged businesses across the world to eliminate forced labor.
“In that vein, I urge all of you to stand up to the horrors we’re seeing in Xinjiang — where individuals of primarily ethnic Uyghur or Muslim backgrounds are being subject to forced labor through government programs. Economic pressure exerted from businesses helps deter these atrocities — and supplements political pressure and activism,” she said.
In addition to giving a global platform to firms tied up in forced-labor activities, the U.N. event also featured a key Chinese Communist Party stalwart who serves as a messenger to international audiences.
Victor Gao, one of the other participants in the China panel, is a well-known cheerleader for the Chinese Communist Party in international and English-language media. He joined the U.N. event in his capacity as chairman of the China Energy Security Institute.
Last year, Gao made headlines for his commentary on the disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai, who was likely taken into custody by the Chinese authorities after accusing a leading party official of raping her.
In an interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes program, he said it would have been impossible for Peng to have been overpowered by a man.
“She is a very successful athlete and physically she can handle many things better than many other women in China,” said Gao. He added, “Physically she is very strong; she is a very tall person. She is taller than I am. So for a person my height trying to take advantage of Peng Shuai, forget about it. You’re indulging in fantasy.”
Speaking to the U.N. conference on Wednesday, Gao emphasized the role of trust in international diplomacy.
“I think in the world of today, trust is probably one of the most important and rare assets that we all want to have. Without trust, you cannot prove and promote international partnerships.”