Forced labor solar power to replace good-paying American jobs under Biden.
Bloomberg (2/10/21) reports: "Chinese solar companies are among 175 around the world that signed a non-binding pledge by a U.S. trade group to avoid forced labor. It will be much harder for them to actually cut ties with Xinjiang, the western China region facing increasing scrutiny for human-rights abuses. The pledge from the Solar Energy Industries Association, a U.S. trade group, doesn’t specifically mention Xinjiang. That region in Western China plays a dominant role in global solar supply chain, and it's also become the center of widespread accusations that President Xi Jinping’s government is systematically oppressing Muslim Uighurs. An accompanying press release, however, calls on the pledge’s signatories to quit the territory over evidence of forced labor. The move sheds light on a dirty secret of the solar industry: it relies on Xinjiang and its cheap coal power to produce half of its key raw material. And with demand for panels set to explode as the U.S. and China commit to more clean power, it will be even harder for the industry to quit the troubled region...As Xinjiang was growing in importance to the solar industry, it became the center of international controversy. Human rights activists have accused the Chinese government of using internment camps and forced labor on ethnic Uighur Muslims, along with other minorities there. The U.S. government stepped up pressure last month, barring entry of all cotton products and tomatoes from the region on grounds of 'modern slavery.' China said the U.S. decision violated trade rules."
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"On the campaign trail, Biden mocked former President Trump’s relentless opposition to the Chinese threat. 'China’s gonna eat our lunch? Come on, man,' he said. It’s actually worse than that. If our lunch is imported from China, it’s theirs to begin with, man, and we’re just making it worse by rejoining Paris."
– Daniel Turner, Power The Future
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