Weaponizing human rights again, the White House imposed a questionable ban of all goods manufactured in the Xinjiang autonomous region of China on thin grounds before Christmas, threatening the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Uygur people.
The enactment of the ‘‘Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act’’ is pure and unbridled opportunism. Its goal is not to genuinely address so-called “forced labor”, a claim which is both made with ambiguity, insinuation and a lack of clear-cut evidence, but to advance US protectionist goals against China and advance supply chain shifts, particularly in areas which the United States perceives to be “strategic”— such in this case as: solar panels. The act, sailing swiftly through the US House and Senate before signing into law, is a textbook example as to how Washington frequently and cynically uses the rhetoric of human rights as a selective and geopolitical weapon to forward its national interests. The world should understand this act for what it is: dishonest and motivated by bad faith politics.
READ MORE: China opposes US act on so-called Uyghur forced labor
Since the Joe Biden administration came to office, it has embraced his predecessor Donald Trump’s legacy of “America First” protectionism and “American jobs first” — endorsing, in turn, the aggressive US trade agenda against China. But in conjunction with that, unlike Trump, Biden has sought to push a “green agenda” wherein he has sought to promote American competitiveness in renewable energy industries, such as for example the manufacturing of solar panels.
Nevertheless, the world must continually be reminded that human rights are not an end in itself for the USA, but a means to an end. This shameful bill is a politically and financially motivated stick which endeavors to play dirty against China, because for all intents and purposes the US does not believe it can win by playing fair
It is no coincidence that in the first few months of Biden presidency, a US defense department firm titled “Horizons Advisory” — a single purpose anti-China “consulting firm”, produced a study which claimed without serious evidence, that China was using forced labor amongst the Uyghur minority to build solar panels, in which it dominates the global manufacturing of. The study was subsequently spread throughout the mainstream media as a coordinated campaign.
If it wasn’t clear already, the weaponized attacks on the grounds of “forced labor” were an intentionally coordinated campaign of “manufacturing consent” in order to buy public support for sanctions on China’s renewable energy industries to facilitate these protectionist goals. When the bill passed congress, the White House press secretary stated that the administration supports “onshoring” and “third shoring” these key industries. In the same week, the “US international development finance corporation” subsequently pledged to invest $500 million for to build the manufacture of solar panels in India. The goal is clear, to try and undercut China’s market share through opportunistic allegations of “forced labor”.
However, this ban will impose more potential costs than it will benefit the US. First of all, the corporate resistance to the legislation is significant for the fact that the supply chain disruptions it will impose on America could be huge. Already as it is, inflation in America is standing at a 30 year high. The legislation will blacklist China’s entire supply of polysilicon from the US which constitutes up to 40 percent of the global total, which will drive prices up worldwide. Likewise, the United States does not have the supply side or demand advantages in order to create equally as affordable solar panels, which again will trigger inflation. Major US firms who rely on the Xinjiang agricultural supply chain, such as Coca-Cola for sugar, will also take damage.
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Meanwhile, China can respond to the ban by endeavoring to find alternative markets for Xinjiang-based products. It should consider focusing on integrating its exports markets with Belt and Road economies in the developing world, whilst continuing to expand access to China’s own consumer markets to relevant countries, continuing to seek out and join bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. US protectionism is sleazy, opportunistic and dishonest, but China’s primary advantage is that the “America first” protectionist wave does have a coherent strategy to respond to it on trade, hence why it is left with these bad-faith attacks.
Nevertheless, the world must continually be reminded that human rights are not an end in itself for the USA, but a means to an end. This shameful bill is a politically and financially motivated stick which endeavors to play dirty against China, because for all intents and purposes the US does not believe it can win by playing fair.
The author is a British political and international relations analyst. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.