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Asleep at the Wheel: Car Companies’ Complicity in Forced Labor in China
… While the Chinese government has welcomed car companies’ investments on its own terms, it has so far shown hostility to the human rights and responsible sourcing policies many carmakers profess to apply across their businesses. Almost a tenth of the world’s aluminum, a key material for car manufacturing, is produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang or XUAR), a region in northwestern China, where the Chinese government is conducting a long-running campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities …
Despite the risk of exposure to forced labor through Xinjiang’s aluminum, some car manufacturers in China have succumbed to government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations. Most companies have done too little to map their supply chains for aluminum parts and identify and address potential links to Xinjiang. Confronted with an opaque aluminum industry and the threat of Chinese government reprisals for investigating links to Xinjiang, carmakers in many cases remain unaware of the extent of their exposure to forced labor …
Aluminum is used in dozens of automotive parts, from engine blocks and vehicle frames to wheels and battery foils … The Chinese government has made Xinjiang a hub for heavy industry, including aluminum production, even as rights violations against Uyghurs have increased. Xinjiang’s aluminum production has grown from approximately one million tons in 2010 to six million in 2022. More than 15 percent of the aluminum produced in China, or 9 percent of global supply, now comes from the region. Xinjiang produces more aluminum than any country outside of China.
The link between Xinjiang, the aluminum industry, and forced labor is Chinese government-backed labor transfer programs, which coerce Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim communities into jobs in Xinjiang and other regions …
[Emphasis mine.]
This is a report that has been cited by Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, senior fellow at the University of Ottawa, at the parliamentary committee in March, where she was then asked an aggressive set of questions by floor-crosser Michael Ma. The report makes a great read and offers insights into a decisive part of ‘China’s EV success formula’.
Asleep at the Wheel: Car Companies’ Complicity in Forced Labor in China
… While the Chinese government has welcomed car companies’ investments on its own terms, it has so far shown hostility to the human rights and responsible sourcing policies many carmakers profess to apply across their businesses. Almost a tenth of the world’s aluminum, a key material for car manufacturing, is produced in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang or XUAR), a region in northwestern China, where the Chinese government is conducting a long-running campaign of repression against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities …
Despite the risk of exposure to forced labor through Xinjiang’s aluminum, some car manufacturers in China have succumbed to government pressure to apply weaker human rights and responsible sourcing standards at their Chinese joint ventures than in their global operations. Most companies have done too little to map their supply chains for aluminum parts and identify and address potential links to Xinjiang. Confronted with an opaque aluminum industry and the threat of Chinese government reprisals for investigating links to Xinjiang, carmakers in many cases remain unaware of the extent of their exposure to forced labor …
Aluminum is used in dozens of automotive parts, from engine blocks and vehicle frames to wheels and battery foils … The Chinese government has made Xinjiang a hub for heavy industry, including aluminum production, even as rights violations against Uyghurs have increased. Xinjiang’s aluminum production has grown from approximately one million tons in 2010 to six million in 2022. More than 15 percent of the aluminum produced in China, or 9 percent of global supply, now comes from the region. Xinjiang produces more aluminum than any country outside of China.
The link between Xinjiang, the aluminum industry, and forced labor is Chinese government-backed labor transfer programs, which coerce Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim communities into jobs in Xinjiang and other regions …
[Emphasis mine.]
This is a report that has been cited by Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, senior fellow at the University of Ottawa, at the parliamentary committee in March, where she was then asked an aggressive set of questions by floor-crosser Michael Ma. The report makes a great read and offers insights into a decisive part of ‘China’s EV success formula’.
1·1 day agoUnlike the official numbers, S&P’s China General Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.8 in March 2026 from 52.1 in February, signaling a slowdown in factory expansion and below the expected 51.6.
26·2 days agoThe next whataboutism and attempted insult.
The linked media reports also about Israel’s genocide, but this is not the topic here. This is about China’s genocide. What you are doing here discredits you. If you continue to whatabout, I end this discussion.
It is disgusting. But as we know in the meantime according to a study,
[tankies’] support can extend beyond backing these authoritarian regimes [such as in China, Russia], even cheering on their violent actions, as evidenced by their posts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine […] and exhibiting anti-Zionist and antisemitic rhetoric.
So no one is surprised I guess.
This ‘LOL’ alone is misplaced, let alone your attempt of distraction.
But to answer your question: yes, they do publish these stories. You can easily find it.
[Edit typo.]
Fair. Just read the Chinese state-controlled media then. It’s at least as unbiased and unreliable as the National Post, albeit leaning in the other direction, but you’ll read that the Chinese government is cheering Michael Ma.
Michael Ma can apologize as often as he wants, his behavior is very telling. Just watch the video. The way he was questioning this expert comes right out of the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook.
Yeah, didn’t read, but commented. Classic.
What is your trust level for Michael Ma if I may ask?
It doesn’t seem that you read the article.
This post and particularly the ml comnents are again the worst propaganda: low quality, sowing division, inciting anger - it’s the propagandists’ recipe to destroy a community.
The announced sanctions target individuals and entities with ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp’s weapons production and transfers of arms and technology to malign actors, including to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.
Canada must now address the Islamic Republic of Iran’s escalating domestic repression and flagrant human rights abuses.
According to his behaviour, this person is acting for the Chinese Communist Party.
That’s an outright disgusting and ignorant comment to say the least.
The way he was questioning this expert comes right out of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda playbook. He didn’t even try to understand what she said but rather aimed at playing down the issue and discredit the expert. It’s deeply unethical, let alone for a democratic official.
Addition:
McCuaig-Johnston told the committee Thursday that Chinese vehicles are made with products that come from slave labour performed by members of the Uyghur minority.
Ma’s suggestion that reports of forced labour amounted to “hearsay” prompted outrage from Conservatives on the committee, one of whom apologized on Ma’s behalf.
Ma, in turn, demanded an apology from the MP who offered the apology. - Source
His reaction is very revealing I would say.
Yeah? China’s government started to censor air quality data in the 2010s. They simply told the company that made the ‘China Air Quality Index’ app for Apple and Android mobile to stop displaying pollution levels that exceeded an official point (you’ll find ample evidence for this across the web). I don’t know whether they still censor it in China, but the air pollution there is still alarmingly high.
To use your words: This is a serious issue. Quit fucking around.
This person should resign immediately imo. His line of questioning on forced labour in China very concerning to say the least, it perfectly resembles the argumentation of Chinese propagandists.
I would be really interested who downvotes this, and why.
Why so uneasy? Air pollution is a serious and, above all, a global issue. It’s sad that Canada is among the least 25% polluted states while still above the threshold. Most other large economies are lagging behind with the second-largest economy, China, facing an air pollution 4 times higher than Canada’s.
Could these ‘private money’ include “Common Pool Resource institutions” in the sense of Elinor Ostrom? Would that be an option for managing some of the commons in Canada?