Interview with VOA about arrest of Lee Ming-che 美國之音採訪：李明哲被抓事件

Below is a March 31 article from Voice of America (Chinese) on Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che, who was arrested while visiting China in March and who remains in pre-trial detention. VOA interviewed me for the story, quoting my analysis of the reasons behind his arrest.

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台灣李明哲案 將引發更多境外非政府組織警惕

沉默一段時間後中國政府終於在星期三確認，台灣非政府組織、民主活動人士李明哲“因涉嫌從事危害國家安全活動”被拘留，人權組織和觀察人士擔憂中國正在擴大對NGO活動人士的攻擊，希望當局對李明哲受到的指控提供進一步細節，否則就應立即將他釋放。

目前在台北文山社區大學工作的李明哲自3月19日從澳門入境中國大陸後就失去音訊，他的家屬、同事和台灣政府多次向中國政府詢問都未獲回音，星期三，中國國台辦發言人馬曉光在例行記者會上證實，李明哲因涉嫌從事危害國家安全活動正接受相關部門調查。

國際特赦組織東亞部主任林偉星期三在一個聲明中指出，中國當局對李明哲有關“涉嫌從事危害國家安全活動”的指控過於空泛，這可能引發對中國是否正在擴大對合法NGO活動人士攻擊的擔憂，如果李明哲遭拘留“只是單純與他合法的活動主義有關”，那麼當局應該立即、無條件將他釋放。

林偉說，李明哲因定義不明的“國家安全”理由被拘留，將使那些與中國境內NGO合作的人產生警惕，因為“當局現在針對NGO及它們合作夥伴所具有的不受監督權力，已經大到令人害怕的程度。”

美國時政評論人士史凱文在接受美國之音採訪時說，從李明哲和最近幾個與中國“危害國家安全”有關的案例，例如瑞典人權工作者彼得達林、澳大利亞學者馮崇義等境外人士被抓捕或限制離境的情況來看，中國正在擴大國家安全的範圍和定義，儘管一般境外普通民間人士到中國祇是開會而非搞活動或抗議，都有可能被認為是觸及國家安全的範圍。

史凱文猜測，李明哲被抓可能有3個原因，第一個就是李明哲的背景。他說，客觀而言，李明哲並非一般台灣公民，而是一個“關心中國民主”的台灣人，他是一個NGO工作者，而且還是前民進黨黨工，因此對中國而言，李明哲是一個“有政治色彩背景”的台灣人。其次可能與中國年初開始實施的《境外非政府組織境內活動管理辦法》有關。

史凱文說：“這個法也是中國公安部管理的，公安部是國家安全的管轄權，有可能他是因為這個原因被抓的；第3，最近新聞報導說李明哲跟中國大陸很多NGO有交流，我們不知道他到底和哪些NGO和人士交流，有可能是比較敏感和所謂的敏感人士，有可能是跟他們的案子有關。”

對於台海兩岸目前官方交流中斷的情況下，台灣應該如何在李明哲案施力或協助家屬，史凱文認為，單方面施壓較為困難，台灣政府應該透過國際社會發聲，讓北京知道人權是普世價值，任意抓捕公民是非法的。

史凱文說：“單方面施壓中國很難，但是這應該變成一個國際社會的問題。總體來說，國際社會重視民主，重視民間社會、公民社會。基於這些原則，還有人權的普世價值，整個國際社會應該強調，你這樣抓捕人是不對的，按照國際法是非法的，台灣政府可能只能基於這些倡導或行動去幫助李明哲。”

此為，史凱文也表示，中國國內有其法律程序，或許有人權律師願意協助如今自己都成為敏感人士的李明哲，不過他說，“這種法律程序都是假的”，最後是否能真正幫到李明哲他感到悲觀。

台灣“關懷中國人權聯盟”理事長楊憲宏告訴美國之音，李明哲在台灣經常參與關心中國民主運動的活動，他所做的事在全世界民主國家，包括台灣，都合乎情理法，但只有在中國會被抓。

楊憲宏說，如果中共認為這是境外反華勢力入侵，那麼兩岸關係“根本走不下去”，因為李明哲是堅持民主自由價值的2千3百萬台灣人其中一個，抓一個李明哲等於告訴全台灣人，中共是與台灣價值和全球價值為敵，因此他說，“習近平不下令放人，就是首惡。”

[來源：https://www.voacantonese.com/a/taiwan-activist-detention-china-20170331/3790691.html]

Fortune story on China Labor Watch report

Fortune reported on the investigation of China Labor Watch into widespread and serious labor rights violations in Chinese toy factories supplying to top global toy brands. Forbes received responses from a number of the implicated toy brands. The beginning of the story is below. 


Hasbro, Mattel Toy Suppliers Slammed In Labor Report
November 22, 2015
by Claire Groden

China Labor Watch released results of undercover investigation.

Laborers at some toy factories in China work without adequate protection, toiling long hours with few, if any, breaks. Many facilities lack proper fire safety measures and subject workers to poor living conditions. For some, quitting means giving up earned wages. According to a new report by China Labor Watch, which investigated five major factories that supply toys to Hasbro and Mattel, labor violations are rampant in Chinese toy factories.

China Labor Watch sent undercover investigators to the factories, which altogether employ about 20,000 laborers. “Over the past 20 years, toy brands and retailers have reaped tremendous benefits from the labor and sometimes even the lives of Chinese workers,” China Labor Watch Program Coordinator Kevin Slaten said in a press release, “yet these companies fail to respect labor rights and to ensure that workers also enjoy the fruits of the toy industry’s success.”

The report found instances of hiring discrimination, mandatory and excessive overtime work, unpaid work, broken labor contracts, poor safety measures and few paths for laborers to seek recourse. Many of these issues also break Chinese labor law.

Read the rest of the Fortune story.

"Socially Responsible" Capitalism Still Feeds the Disease

As part of an excellent analysis piece on the concept of social responsibility, I did an interview with journalist Toshio Meronek for Truthout. The article really touches on issues located at the root of the state of business ethics. I've copied the beginning of the article below. The full piece, published on September 16, can be read here.


Capitalism with a conscience? That's the idea behind so-called "socially responsible" investments - buying stocks in companies that are screened for criteria like good labor practices, sustainability and whether or not the company is involved in arms manufacturing. The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, an industry association, claimed in its latest report from 2012 that at least $3.74 trillion in the United States is invested with environmental and social impacts in mind.

Some socially responsible investments (SRI) weed out cigarette companies like Philip Morris; others shun companies with poor environmental records, like BP. But whichever investments you choose, there's a good chance you'll be profiting off companies with bad human rights records because the backbone of many SRI funds are consumer technology stocks - companies like Apple and Samsung, which have histories replete with labor and privacy abuses.

China Labor Watch (CLW) is one of the groups that investigates ongoing labor problems; Kevin Slaten is its US-based program coordinator. He spoke to Truthout about the reports his organization has conducted on Apple, which started to be heavily scrutinized around 2010 when activists brought attention to child labor in some of the factories used by the computer giant. Some of these same factories were the subjects of protests over a number of Chinese labor law violations and mass worker suicides.

According to Slaten, "We constantly find these symptoms, but the disease underlying these symptoms has not been properly taken care of for years. The disease is these companies want the most amount of products in the shortest amount of time."

Read the rest of the article here.

Media Round-up: Lack of reform to working conditions at Apple supplier Catcher

On September 4, China Labor Watch (CLW) along with Green America published an investigative report (PDF) on a long list of labor and safety violations at factory called Catcher Technology in Suqian, China that manufactures Apple computer and phone parts.

In addition to the approaching iPhone 6, this report followed 16 months after CLW had already reported similar labor abuse to Apple. But Apple failed to take the necessary action to see through reform. 

In the wake of this report, I had a chance to discuss findings and underlying causes with WSJ, The Guardian, the South China Morning Post, and CNET. Voice of America did a Chinese-language interview with me. I also stepped onto CNBC's Squawk Box, which you can view below.

Media Round-up: Child labor at Samsung supplier Shinyang

On July 10, CLW exposed another case of child workers making Samsung products at a Samsung supplier plant in southern China called Shinyang Electronics. Beside child labor, there were a list of 14 other labor abuses, such as 120 hours of overtime per month, unsafe working conditions, and more.

There was a considerable media follow-up on the heels of the report. Among the stories, I spoke on CNN's Quest Means Business and WSJ Live, and interviewed with the International Business Times. The videos are below.

CNN clip



WSJ clip

CBC (The Current) interview on Yue Yuen strike

On Monday April 28, I went to CBC's studio in Midtown Manahattan to chat with The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti about the progress of the hitoric Yue Yuen strike. The entire segment on the story can be listened to hear: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2452825479

NBC News interview on progressing Yue Yuen Strike

As it entered the 40,000-strong Yue Yuen shoe factory strike entered its second week, NBC New's Alastair Jamieson interviewed me on some aspects of the protest. The full article is below.

Worsening China Factory Strike Threatens Adidas, Nike Sneakers
By Alastair Jamieson and Eric Baculinao

BEIJING - A wage dispute at a huge sneaker factory that supplies brands including Adidas and Nike escalated Wednesday, highlighting the growing problems faced by China’s manufacturing powerhouse. 

Workers at the plant – owned by the world's largest maker of sneakers, Yue Yuen – earn as little as $1.67 an hour making shoes that can sell for up to 100 times as much in the United States. 

Tens of thousands of employees have been off work for a second week, forcing Adidas to switch production to some of its other suppliers. At least one organizer was arrested by police and has not been seen for 24 hours, activists told NBC News Wednesday after a settlement offer was rejected. 

At the core of the dispute is the issue of historic underpayments for social security and housing fund contributions, but the issue goes far beyond the shoe plant. 

Workers throughout China are demanding not just higher wages but better social insurance as they face the prospect of supporting a rapidly aging population.

“The fact that something as nuanced as social insurance has led to a strike shows just how much things are changing,” said Kevin Slaten of U.S.-based non-profit China Labor Watch. “This generation of workers is a lot more aware of its rights and this problem is not unique to this factory.” 

Interview on BBC World News about massive Chinese shoe factory strike

On April 15, 2014, a day after a Dongguan shoe factory strike began that would continue ont April 28 and involve about 40,000 worker, BBC World News interviewed me about the event.

The Guardian interview on worker safety in Apple factories

I talked with The Guardian's Samual Gibbs to discuss worker safety in Chinese plants making Apple products as part the following article:

Apple urged to stop using harmful chemicals in its factories

Labour and eco groups call for chemical safety in manufacturing at Apple factories in China, and say Samsung, Dell and HP should change too

Pressure groups China Labor Watch and Green America say Apple should stop using harmful chemicals including the solvents n-hexane and benzene in its manufacturing.

But they said that they were not calling for a customer boycott of the products, and that any reports suggesting that were “misinterpretation”.

The groups will call on Wednesday for Apple to “stop needlessly exposing workers in Chinese manufacturing facilities to toxic chemicals now causing severe illnesses” arguing that using those chemicals rather than alternatives saves it a “shockingly small amount of money”.

“Together with Green America, we demand that Apple takes responsibility and removes chemicals like the solvents n-hexane and the carcinogen benzene, which is known to cause leukaemia providing its workers with a legal standard of welfare,” Kevin Slaten, programme co-ordinator at China Labor Watch, told the Guardian.

Apple's child labor

Apple iPhone child worker Shi Zhaokun who died last year
(Photo: China Labor Watch)

In writing a piece on child labor in Apple's supply chain, a reporter for Quartz magazine talked with me about the issue as it pertains to China. The article is an interesting read, but (as I told the reporter in an email after the article was publsihed), despite the seriousness of child labor, from a numbers perspective, child labor is a relatively minor aspect of the labor abuse going on in Apple's supply chain.

Quoted in E-Commerce Times on IBM factory strike of 1,000 workers

IBM is selling its low-end server business to Lenevo, and this includes the sale of an electronics factory in Guangdong Province. But during the process, the factory did not offer economic compensation to its workers as required by law. Over 1,000 workers from the plant went on striek to protest this and other issues, like working hours. A reporter from E-Commerce Times contacted me to talk more about the legal background and labor context. Please see the article here.

Protest and interview on the streets of Paris

I had the fortune to be a part of the dramatic protest/media campaign on the streets of Paris against the abuse of Mattel workers in China. This protest was carried out with the leadership of Peuples Solidaires, a dynamic French rights advocacy group. I cannot remember the exact location in Paris, but there were about two to three dozen reporters present, including the AP. Below is the footage and interview shot by GNC News Network.

Quoted in Huffington Post on exploitation in factories producing Dell products

Prolific labor rights advocate/reporter Michelle Chen interviewed me for an article about the latest revelations of labor abuse in Dell-producing factories in China, based on a detailed report by DanWatch. Much of the report is based on undercover investigation by China Labor Watch.

In Chen's article, I was quoted speaking on the issue of temp workers:

The tremendous use of student workers and dispatch or temporary workers is in part a symptom of brand companies, like Dell, driving down prices for production. The factories run on relatively slim profit margins, and the factories attempt to use every trick in the book to cut labor costs, including the use of illegally large proportions of temporary workers.

Back in March, together with Chinese right activist Xue Chao, I published an in-depth essay on the topic of Chinese temp workers. 

Radio interview on labor violations in Apple-producing factories

I was interviewed by California-based Free Speech Radio News yesterday on a recent China Labor Watch report regarding labor abuse in Apple's supplier factories in China. The interview can be found here.

CNBC interview on Apple labor standards

On September 6, I spoke with CNBC about the ethical and legal labor violations found in Apple's supplier factories in China. The interview can be viewed below.

Quoted in Al Jazeera on U.S. manufactuer abusing Chinese workers making Apple phones

Al Jazeera interviewed me yesterday for a report on a U.S.-owned factory in China making iPhones for Apple under abusive conditions. The U.S. manufacturer is called Jabil Circuit, based out of Florida. The Al Jazeera article is linked here.

Quoted in Huffington Post on labor abuse in Apple-producing factories

An August 10 article on labor violations in Apple's Chinese supplier factory, Pegatron, included an interview with me on China Labor Watch's investigative findings. I was quoted saying:

One of the most troubling trends is that Apple is letting suppliers making Apple products, such as Foxconn and Pegatron, compete for Apple orders without ensuring that these suppliers' conditions first meet legal and Apple's own standards. Unless Apple places labor conditions on par with production price and speed, then it will continue to give large orders to abusive factories.

Interviewed by Australian radio on Apple factory labor abuse

A national radio station in Australian (ABC) interviewed me on July 30 in regards to labor abuse in Apple's supply chain. The interview is linked here.

CNBC interview on Chinese workers taking an American boss hostage

I joined a discussion panel on CNBC's Closing Bell on June 26 to talk about Chinese workers near Beijing taking an American boss hostage out of fear for losing their jobs. The discussion can be viewed below.

Interview on Voice of Russia on American boss taken hostage in China

 I was recently interviewed by the Voice of Russia on the incident near Beijing, China in which workers took an American factory boss hostage out of fear of losing their jobs. The interview can be listened to here.