Report documents how China’s cheap exports cause more human rights violations against the Tibetans, the Uyghur people and the Mongols

On occasion of the Chinese-German government consultations, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) points out that China’s cheap exports are causing more human rights violations against the Tibetans, the Uyghur people and the Mongols. “China’s cheap exports are dependent on low-cost raw materials from the areas in which these nationalities live,” the human rights organization criticizes in a 51-page report that was published on Thursday. The report documents how China exploits resources in Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia – and it accounts for the local population’s peaceful resistance against the destruction of their homeland. The report describes how the sacred mountains of the Tibetans are hollowed out and how environmental activists are intimidated and persecuted. Since 2009, hundreds of members of minority groups have been imprisoned for protesting against the destruction of their livelihood. Hundreds of thousands of nomads were forced to settle in order to facilitate access to the raw materials on their territory. 

According to the STP, the situation of the Uyghurs is especially precarious. There is a strong police and military presence, forcing them to stand by and watch while the rivers, the soil and the air are contaminated with pollutants. “China is increasingly moving its heavy industry to Xinjiang, as there is plenty of cheap energy there. China’s industrial centers are exporting the smog to the homeland of the Uyghurs,” warns Ulrich Delius, the STP’s China-expert. The human rights organization has asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to demand better protection for the minority groups to put an end to the plundering of their resources and the destruction of their traditional territories.

The dispute about the cheap exports from the People’s Republic casts a shadow on the Chinese-German government consultations and the German delegation’s visit to China (led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, June 12 – 14). Thus, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel demanded protective tariffs to keep jobs in Germany despite the cheap exports from China. “However, the first losers in this dispute are the Uyghur people, the Tibetans and the Mongols. Their homeland is being destroyed – and they weren’t asked what kind of development they want,” said Ulrich Delius, the STP’s China-expert.

The new steel plants and aluminum smelters in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia have more capacities than all the existing enterprises in East China together. Thanks to government subsidies, they can produce more – and cheaper – goods than ever before, flooding the global market with cheap exports. 

A preview version of STP’s report can be found here: China’s cheap exports cause human rights violations (pdf) (available only in german)