Zhang Hanhui, a Chinese ambassador to Russia, published a signed article in Russia’s “Labor News”, “The U.S. U.S. World Outlook for Black and White Need to Correction”. The full text is as follows:
On September 19, Zhang Hanhui, the Chinese ambassador to Russia, published a signed article in the Russian “Labor Daily”, “The U.S.’s worldview that reverses black and white needs to be corrected urgently.” The full text is as follows:
Recently, the United States has frequently hyped up “forced labor” related to Xinjiang, and implemented the so-called “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act”. The U.S.’s words and deeds that confuse black and white must be stopped immediately, and the “proud” world view of the United States needs to be corrected urgently.
America’s solipsistic worldview reflects its strong sense of insecurity. Whether it is using the Xinjiang issue to contain China or wielding sanctions to suppress Russia, the goal of the United States is to maintain its hegemony and does not want an independent power like China and Russia to appear on the international stage. The US manipulation of the Xinjiang issue is in essence undermining the prosperity and stability of the Xinjiang region under the guise of human rights and curbing China’s development and revitalization.
America’s methodology of harming itself and others demonstrates the short-sightedness of its policies. The “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law” formulated and implemented by the United States first seriously affected the economic interests and business reputation of the United States and its allies, and pushed up the costs of related enterprises. U.S. Customs detained products produced by American brand Skechers in China on the grounds of alleged “forced labor”; H&M products were removed from major Chinese e-commerce platforms due to rumors of boycotting Xinjiang cotton. The H&M store on Huaihai Middle Road has quietly withdrawn.
The small trick of the United States to press charges exposes the true face of its hypocritical double standard. President Vladimir Putin once explained the psychology of the United States: “When people evaluate and criticize others, it is often like seeing their own image in a mirror.” For some time, the United States has fabricated and continued to hype the so-called so-called targeting of Xinjiang based on lies and false information. Lies such as “genocide”, “forced labor” and “crimes against humanity” do not know that the hearts of all countries in the world are like mirrors, and they have already seen through who the real “forced laborers”, “human rights abusers” and “innocent victims” are.
In the name of human rights, the United States undermines human rights, tramples on the legal system under the guise of law, and pretends to be a “human rights teacher” to the outside world, but internally ignores its own bad deeds on the issue of forced labor.
There are large numbers of prison labor in prisons at all levels in the United States, and inmates are outsourced to public programs or employed by corporations. According to data released by the American Civil Liberties Union, as of May 2022, the average hourly wage in the United States is about $10.96, while the hourly wage of prison labor is less than $1. At the same time, prison laborers create products and services worth more than $11 billion annually, and private prisons contracting with the U.S. government make millions of dollars a year.
Child labor in the United States has a long history. As early as more than 100 years ago, American mines, tobacco farms, and textile factories began to employ forced child labor. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies, 50% of the 100,000 people who are trafficked from abroad to the United States for forced labor each year are underage children. Most of the employed child labor lacks security. According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, between 1995 and 2002, 907 child laborers died on farms in the United States; between 2003 and 2016, 452 children died due to work-related injuries, of which 237 Child laborers die in agricultural accidents.
U.S. immigration law has created a severe imbalance of power between employers and employees, leading to modern slavery. The British “Guardian” investigation found that foreign workers working on American farms have poor living conditions. After working 12 hours a day and 15 days, they are only paid $225, and they often face sexual assault, harassment, work-related disability, death, exposure to Toxic chemicals medium problem. Immigrants working in U.S. domestic services are not allowed to switch clients at will, are often owed wages or fail to meet minimum wage standards, and are subject to violence, sexual assault, or intimidation by employers and their families.
If the United States really cares about the issue of forced labor, it should amend the Constitution as soon as possible to give criminals the true right to work freely, instead of allowing the U.S. prison system to abuse the law, legalize forced labor, and turn private prisons into black-hearted politicians who want to amass money. Slavery-style “concentration camps” that exploit the poor.
If the U.S. really cares about forced labor, it should adopt the Convention on the Rights of the Child as soon as possible and investigate the fact that 500,000 child laborers are still engaged in agricultural labor. Machinery, without training and protection measures, face a huge risk of work-related injuries.
If the U.S. really cares about forced labor, it should reform its current immigration laws, untie the temporary visas of foreign workers from their employers, and re-grant foreign workers equal rights, rather than making them inferior, even if they are arbitrarily reduced wages or Don’t make a sound for extended hours.
The Chinese often say that facts speak louder than words. At present, Xinjiang’s society is safe and stable, development continues to improve, and people live and work in peace and contentment. Over the past 60 years since the establishment of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the regional economic aggregate has grown by 160 times, the Uyghur population has grown from 2.2 million to about 12 million, and the average life expectancy has increased from 30 to 74.7 years. Workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang fully enjoy the freedom to choose a job according to their own wishes, and fully enjoy various labor security rights and economic interests. From 2014 to 2021, the disposable income of urban residents in Xinjiang will increase from 23,000 yuan to 37,600 yuan, and the disposable income of rural residents will increase from about 8,700 yuan to 15,600 yuan. By the end of 2020, all the more than 3.06 million rural poor people in Xinjiang will be lifted out of poverty, all 3,666 poor villages will be lifted out of the poverty-stricken village sequence, and all 35 poor counties will have achieved the goal of alleviating poverty, and the problem of absolute poverty will be resolved historically. In the face of facts, all Xinjiang-related lies and rumors will be self-defeating.
If you want to take the responsibility of a big country, you must have the vision, the mind of a big country and the responsibility of a big country. Otherwise, just as China’s “Book of Changes” put it: “Virtue is weak but position is respected, wisdom is small but greatness is not enough!” We strongly urge the U.S. side to immediately stop wrong words and deeds related to Xinjiang, cancel the relevant evil laws, face up to the reality of China’s Xinjiang development, and do more. Be concerned about your human rights and forced labor. At the same time, China will continue to firmly support all countries in the world to follow a development path that suits their own national conditions, strengthen unity and cooperation, abandon division and confrontation, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, so as to create a better future for the world.
