The Hidden Hands Behind Cheap Chinese Goods
In 2012, a woman in Oregon opened a box of Halloween decorations from Kmart. Tucked inside was a scrap of paper, scrawled in broken English with a desperate plea: 'If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Rights Organization.' It described long hours, beatings, a brutal Chinese labor camp. The writer, Sun Yi, an engineer and husband, had been jailed for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline outlawed by the Chinese Communist Party.
I told Sun Yi's story in my documentary '
Today, we are caught up in tariffs, trade wars, and supply chain fixes. It is all about inflation, market access, political leverage. But we are missing the heart of it. Behind those bargain-bin trinkets are lives. While Sun Yi found a way to speak out, most are trapped in factories behind walls, silenced by fear.
I do not mean to paint China with a broad brush. Not every item made in China is through
I am no economist. Whether tariffs are sound trade policies is for others to debate. But I know this: tariffs will not fix what is broken in those camps. They are about numbers. Markets do not feel the prisoner's pain. The threats. The silence. Justice is not a price adjustment.
Related Stories
2/22/2019
12/10/2018
The power is with us. Consumers, businesses, investors. We decide what is acceptable. When we ask where our stuff comes from, when companies demand clean supply chains, when investors value ethics alongside profit, things shift. That is not radical. It is responsible. It says values matter, even in a global economy.
Governments can help. The
It is tempting to think cheaper is always better. But what is the real cost? In that labor camp, Sun Yi knew the risks of his defiance. He believed in us. His letter sparked headlines. His story lives on. Now that we know, the question is not what the market will do. It is what we will do.
Policies will shift. Politics will change. But acting with conscience does not need to wait. It starts here. With us.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
13 minutes ago
Hong Kong judge rules in favor of transgender bathroom access
HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong judge on Wednesday ruled to strike down regulations criminalizing the use of bathrooms designated for the opposite sex, ruling in favor of transgender individuals' rights to access public toilets matching their identity. Judge Russell Coleman approved the judicial review of K, who was born a woman and identifies as a man, saying the regulations contravene an article of the city's mini-constitution that stipulates all residents should be equal before the law. But he suspended the declaration to strike down the regulations for a year to allow the government 'to consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention.' He said in the judgement that the regulations and 'drawing the line of a person's biological sex at birth create a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy and equality rights." The ruling marks another step forward in recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the Chinese financial hub. In recent years, the government has revised policies following activists' wins in legal challenges. Currently, only children under 5 years old accompanied by an opposite sex adult can enter a public washroom designated for the opposite sex. Those violating the rule face a fine of up to 2,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $255). K launched a legal challenge in 2022, seeking to expand the exemption to pre-operative transgender people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have a medical need to undergo the process of living in their identified gender. He argued that his constitutional rights were infringed by the prohibition against him using public toilets allocated for men, the court heard. The government did not immediately comment. Quarks, a group serving transgender youth in Hong Kong, welcomed the ruling, urging officials to take immediate action to rectify what it called long-standing discrimination in the system. 'The ruling is not just an affirmation of transgender rights legally but also a big step forward for Hong Kong's overall human rights development,' it said on Instagram. In 2023, Hong Kong's top court ruled that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards. The next year, the government revised its policy to allow people who have not completed full gender-affirmation surgery to change their genders on ID cards as long as they fulfill certain conditions. The conditions include the removal of breasts for transgender men, the removal of the penis and testes for transgender women, and having undergone continuous hormonal treatment for at least two years before applying. Applicants also have to continue their hormonal treatment and submit blood test reports for random checks upon the government's request. In April, activist Henry Tse, who won the legal battle in 2023 and received his new ID card reflecting his gender change last year, lodged a fresh legal challenge over the new requirements.
Hamilton Spectator
36 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Hong Kong judge rules in favor of transgender bathroom access
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong judge on Wednesday ruled to strike down regulations criminalizing the use of bathrooms designated for the opposite sex, ruling in favor of transgender individuals' rights to access public toilets matching their identity. Judge Russell Coleman approved the judicial review of K, who was born a woman and identifies as a man, saying the regulations contravene an article of the city's mini-constitution that stipulates all residents should be equal before the law. But he suspended the declaration to strike down the regulations for a year to allow the government 'to consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention.' He said in the judgement that the regulations and 'drawing the line of a person's biological sex at birth create a disproportionate and unnecessary intrusion into the privacy and equality rights.' The ruling marks another step forward in recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the Chinese financial hub. In recent years, the government has revised policies following activists' wins in legal challenges. Currently, only children under 5 years old accompanied by an opposite sex adult can enter a public washroom designated for the opposite sex. Those violating the rule face a fine of up to 2,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $255). K launched a legal challenge in 2022, seeking to expand the exemption to pre-operative transgender people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have a medical need to undergo the process of living in their identified gender. He argued that his constitutional rights were infringed by the prohibition against him using public toilets allocated for men, the court heard. In 2023, Hong Kong's top court ruled that full sex reassignment surgery should not be a prerequisite for transgender people to have their gender changed on their official identity cards. The next year, the government revised its policy to allow people who have not completed full gender-affirmation surgery to change their genders on ID cards as long as they fulfill certain conditions. The conditions include the removal of breasts for transgender men, the removal of the penis and testes for transgender women, and having undergone continuous hormonal treatment for at least two years before applying. Applicants also have to continue their hormonal treatment and submit blood test reports for random checks upon the government's request. In April, activist Henry Tse, who won the legal battle in 2023 and received his new ID card reflecting his gender change last year, lodged a fresh legal challenge over the new requirements. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CNBC
37 minutes ago
- CNBC
Chinese and EU leaders are about to meet — but the U.S. is complicating things
China and the European Union will hold a top-level meeting in Beijing on Thursday, while the U.S. is making their already tense relationship more complicated. Clashes over trade and economic policy, technological issues and defense and security have been commonplace between China and the EU — and tensions have recently been heating up. For example, the EU imposed restrictions on Chinese companies taking part in public tenders for medical devices in the bloc, prompting China to respond with countermeasures. In large part, the strain between the two trading partners is linked to concerns about how domestic economies and companies could be impacted by imports. The high-stakes summit, which is the 25th between the partners and marks 50 years of bilateral relations, was therefore already taking place under less than ideal circumstances. Initially scheduled to take place in Brussels, the meeting was then cut from two days to one — which was widely understood as another sign of fragile EU-China ties. "Relations between Brussels and Beijing are particularly tense," Jörn Fleck, senior director at the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council, told CNBC. "The EU and China have more to argue about than they agree on, even if neither side can afford to let the relationship deteriorate much further given the global outlook and their respective economic positions," Fleck said. And then, there is U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy to contend with. "Largely irreconcilable EU-China differences will severely constrain potential cooperation, despite mutual interest in countering some of President Trump's policies — led by US trade measures and unilateralism," Emre Peker, director for Europe at Eurasia Group, told CNBC. The U.S.' actions could even trigger a worsening of EU-China relations, Peker said. Brussels, for example, could sharpen its position on measures targeting China if the U.S. puts pressure on the bloc to do so as part of trade talks, he continued. "The extent of Brussels's alignment with Washington on supply chains, export controls, and other issues will signal the level of EU frustration with China — and influence their relationship," Peker said. The EU and China together account for almost 30% of global trade, according to the European Council. When taking goods and services into account, EU-China trade was valued at over 845 billion euros ($989 billion) in 2024. Henrietta Levin, a senior fellow at the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS, told CNBC that China may try and influence the EU with regards to its talks with the U.S. "Chinese leaders may press their European counterparts on the EU's ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, urging them to reject any measures that would disadvantage China," Levin said. The EU and U.S. have so far not agreed on a trade framework, with talks ongoing as the bloc faces a 30% tariff on most of its exports from Aug. 1. China and the U.S. meanwhile in June said they had come to an agreement, which covers tech regulations and provisions around hotly contested rare earths, which are often used in the automotive, defense and energy sectors. Additionally, Levin also noted that Trump's more adversarial approach to the EU may complicate the bloc's ability to counter China. "It will be difficult for the EU to stand up to China's economic coercion while also managing largescale economic coercion from its American allies," she said. Analyst expectations for the summit appear relatively low. "That the summit is going forward is likely to be the biggest deliverable," the Atlantic Council's Fleck said. "The best possible outcome is that the EU and China's negotiators will agree to keep talking on the various issues at play, including tariffs, market access, and Chinese subsidies and overcapacity," Fleck said, pointing to some of the many points of contention between the partners. One positive sign, Fleck said, was confirmation that Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. There may also be other, smaller hints of change in EU-China relations, Lukas Fiala, project coordinator of the China Foresight programme at LSE IDEAS, told CNBC. "The summit can hardly reset years of economic and geopolitical tensions between the two sides," Fiala said, saying that the worsening of EU-China relations had "structural and longer-term" reasons. EU member states also have differing views on China, which makes it hard for the EU to express a united position, he added. "I will look out for smaller changes and language related to export controls on EVs and rare earths during and after the summit, but do not expect a big shift in the status quo," Fiala said.
