Opinion: We can’t fight climate change using forced labor in China
Opinion by
Josh Rogin
Columnist
June 24, 2021 at 6:28 p.m. EDT
President Biden says climate change is the “number one issue facing humanity,” but that we must fight it while still upholding our values, such as human rights. China is testing our ability to honor both goals, by running its solar industry using forced labor linked to an ongoing genocide. That simply can’t be tolerated or ignored. We can’t save the planet by increasing the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Most Americans likely don’t know that approximately 40 percent of the world’s polysilicon, a key component of solar panels, is manufactured in China’s northwest Xinjiang region, where the United States has determined the Chinese government is perpetrating a genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities. As evidence amassed in recent months that the Chinese solar industry was employing these minorities without giving them any say in the matter, pressure mounted on the Biden administration to act.
On Thursday, the White House acted, banning the import of goods by Hoshine Silicon, one of the many Chinese solar companies it accuses of using forced labor in Xinjiang. The Commerce Department on Thursday also added Hoshine and four other Xinjiang companies to a list that prohibits U.S. companies from doing business with them. It’s a limited action, but the Biden administration is framing it as proof that its climate change agenda won’t dampen its commitment to defend human rights, even in China.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/24/china-solar-panels-biden-ban-uyghurs-human-rights/
