u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 1 http://www.rt.com/op-ed/521491-republicans-business-china-forced-labor/
How Republicans and big business are turning up the heat on ‘forced labor’
in China… to make life difficult for Biden
Tom Fowdy
is a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations with
a primary focus on East Asia.
19 Apr, 2021
President Biden’s drive for more renewable energy is going to require
significant imports from China. But his domestic opponents are increasingly
weaponizing Xinjiang in an attempt to push their own agenda.
On Sunday, the US and China issued a joint statement on climate change
following a tense visit to Shanghai by Joe Biden’s special envoy John Kerry
. But don’t think that Beijing is now a US partner on this issue and Biden
has a clean shot towards achieving his goals on renewable energy.
As the new administration gears up for a massive infrastructure spending
blitz, which will focus considerably on renewables, the Republicans, who are
very much invested in ‘legacy’ energy industries, are already deriding it
as a “green new deal”. And to make life difficult for the White House,
they have a new tool of choice to undermine the entire thing: the
weaponization of forced labor allegations in China’s Xinjiang autonomous
region.
China just happens to be the world’s largest exporter of solar panels. The
Xinjiang region is also the biggest supplier of polysilicon, a key material
in their manufacture, and acts as the center of a global supply chain which
spans the world. Despite tariffs from President Trump, the US is importing
solar tech at an overwhelming rate, because China’s industry is more
effective, advanced and affordable than anything in America. So what is a
big blitz on environmentally focused spending by Biden going to do for US-
China trade? The answer is obvious.
But not everyone is happy. The Republicans cannot block Biden’s bill in
Congress, but they can use anti-China politics to make his life difficult.
In January, a mysterious short-lived consultancy firm named ‘Horizon
Advisory’ appeared out of nowhere and published a report claiming, without
sufficient evidence, that solar panels in the Xinjiang autonomous region are
being manufactured using forced labor from the Uyghur minority.
The claims have since been plastered across the mainstream media, most
particularly by papers with known business portfolios, such as Bloomberg and
the Wall Street Journal, as well as by the ultra-fiscal-conservative
American Enterprise Institute think tank in Foreign Policy, all in a strange
synchronization.
But the Horizon Advisory organization itself is extremely dubious. It was
founded in 2020 and a visit to its website reveals a few vague details and
literally nothing but anti-China content, with a mission statement that
talks about “the commercial and security implications of China’s approach
to global competition.”
Secondly, the firm appears to be a front for the ultra-neoconservative think
tank, the ‘Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) with its director
Emily De La Bruyere sitting as a senior fellow there. The FDD website
states that Horizon Advisory is a “consulting firm focused on the
implications of China’s competitive approach to geopolitics.” So, what we
appear to have is a single purpose consultancy firm which espouses anti-
China policy, linked to a very right-wing, pro-war organization.
But that isn’t all. During the tenure of the Trump administration, Horizon
Advisory received funding from the US Department of Defense and the
International Trade Association. If this doesn’t make its agenda obvious,
nothing will.
Yet, there is still even more to the puzzle. In conjunction with the claims
of forced labor in the Xinjiang solar panels industry, by coincidence
several weeks ago US senator and ultra-China hawk Marco Rubio introduced a
bill titled ‘The Keep China Out of Solar Energy Act,’ demanding a ban on
federal funds to purchase solar panels – something which of course will
cause serious problems for Biden’s renewable plans.
What is going on here? This is what’s called an ‘Iron Triangle’ in US
politics; an interest group coalition of politicians, supportive think tanks
and big business and their associated media outlets, who lobby in tandem to
push a varying agenda. And the issue is being weaponized on two fronts –
oppositional politics against Biden and the interests of big energy firms
who are threatened by his focus on renewables.
Republicans do not like initiatives designed to address climate change. Why
did Trump scupper the Paris accord and scores of environmental regulations?
Three words: coal, oil and automobiles, the very things which are threatened
by a shift from Biden. And the issue becomes more pressing given that
America’s environmental energy products are far behind China.
The answer? To discredit China’s solar panel and renewable energy firms by
linking them to forced labor in Xinjiang. Because there is no definitive
proof it’s happening, they take the line of “it’s impossible to verify,”
which translates as “guilty because we can’t prove them innocent.”
China’s right. The long, grim death toll from America’s 201 military
conflicts since 1945 reveals the world’s real bad guyChina’s right. The
long, grim death toll from America’s 201 military conflicts since 1945
reveals the world’s real bad guy
Highlighting Xinjiang has, in fact, become the modus operandi for
undermining any industry in China the US dislikes, from Huawei, to cotton
and now solar panels. This is a catch-all strategy which gives moral and
political capital to preferred policies. So-called ‘consultancy’ firms
such as Horizon Advisory create allegations, which are then parroted in the
mainstream media and never given proper scrutiny, and used to foment public
concern. This subsequently provides political capital for a given bill or
executive order. Ultimately, in attacking clean energy, we have seen how
dirty US politics works. | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 2 China just happens to be the world’s largest exporter of solar panels. The
Xinjiang region is also the biggest supplier of polysilicon, a key material
in their manufacture, and acts as the center of a global supply chain which
spans the world. Despite tariffs from President Trump, the US is importing
solar tech at an overwhelming rate, because China’s industry is more
effective, advanced and affordable than anything in America. So what is a
big blitz on environmentally focused spending by Biden going to do for US-
China trade? The answer is obvious. | r***i
发帖数: 9780 | 3 卧槽
这尼玛和党有这么牛逼？》
控制着左叉人渣的组织？ | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 4 这个是作者列出的具体事实和分析
In January, a mysterious short-lived consultancy firm named ‘Horizon
Advisory’ appeared out of nowhere and published a report claiming, without
sufficient evidence, that solar panels in the Xinjiang autonomous region are
being manufactured using forced labor from the Uyghur minority.
The claims have since been plastered across the mainstream media, most
particularly by papers with known business portfolios, such as Bloomberg and
the Wall Street Journal, as well as by the ultra-fiscal-conservative
American Enterprise Institute think tank in Foreign Policy, all in a strange
synchronization.
But the Horizon Advisory organization itself is extremely dubious. It was
founded in 2020 and a visit to its website reveals a few vague details and
literally nothing but anti-China content, with a mission statement that
talks about “the commercial and security implications of China’s approach
to global competition.”
Secondly, the firm appears to be a front for the ultra-neoconservative think
tank, the ‘Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) with its director
Emily De La Bruyere sitting as a senior fellow there. The FDD website
states that Horizon Advisory is a “consulting firm focused on the
implications of China’s competitive approach to geopolitics.” So, what we
appear to have is a single purpose consultancy firm which espouses anti-
China policy, linked to a very right-wing, pro-war organization. | u***r
发帖数: 4825 | 5 现在布林肯出来说，美国在可再生能源方面落后于中国
就是想解套了 |
|
