Original link: https://sehseh.substack.com/p/93c
Chinese prisoner of conscience Cheng Yuan (right) wife Shi Minglei calls on major American factories to stop slave labor in Chinese prisons (provided by the interviewee)
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Editor’s note: Cheng Yuan, the head of the Chinese NGO “Changsha Funeng”, has been arrested and sentenced since 2019 on suspicion of “subversion of state power”. This prison is where Taiwanese Li Mingzhe was once imprisoned. After Li returned to Taiwan, he testified that all prisoners in the prison were forced to endure extremely long hours of violent slavery. Surprisingly, one of the main profit sources of Chishan Prison is the various tools of Milwaukee Tools (Milwaukee Tools), a major American manufacturer.
Cheng Yuan’s wife, Minglei Shi, recently issued a signed letter asking Steven Richman, president of Milwaukee Tools Group, to publicly state and stop using Chinese prisoners of conscience as slave labor, otherwise legal action will be taken to sue the group and retailers for violating federal laws such as slave labor and human trafficking. . The case has affected China, the United States, and all over the world. With the authorization of Shi Minglei, “A Walk Around the World” hereby publishes an open letter in traditional Chinese.
Text / Wang Yingzhi, Shi Minglei
On the morning of November 8, Taiwan time, Shi Minglei was interviewed by reporters from across the ocean. She was in the United States and had just coaxed her daughter to bed. She was a little tired, but she was still very careful to ensure the security of the communication software.
Shi Minglei said that this joint action is very rare, because the outside world finally has Li Mingzhe, a witness who has returned from Chishan Prison to witness the issue of slavery. The vast majority of Chishan Prison are “prisoners of conscience” who were imprisoned for political reasons.
According to Li Mingzhe’s testimony , all prisoners in Chishan Prison are forced to perform high-intensity labor, with few exceptions, and it is not an overnight thing for the prison to use them for profit. And U.S. companies have reached a federally designated “crime” for working with such manufacturers, violating laws such as the Tariff Act of 1930 and numerous versions of the Anti-Human Trafficking Prevention Act.
When Shi Minglei learned about the relationship between Chishan Prison and Milwaukee Tools, she went to the nearest Home Depot store and stared blankly at the tools on the shelves. Who would have guessed that she and her detained husband Cheng Yuan could not meet for more than three years , but it is very likely that she could buy the gloves he sewed at a hypermarket not far from her residence in the United States.
She asked relatives and friends in the United States, seven or eight out of ten have bought this brand of tools. “I told my friends about this, and they were all shocked and couldn’t believe it,” Shi Minglei said.
Chishan Prison produces three million pairs of gloves each year, which are put on shelves across the United States and around the world. (provided by respondents)
A few days after the open letter was sent, Shi Minglei found out that 13 senior executives from Milwaukee Tools have visited her LinkedIn page in a row, but no one has been in touch for the time being. Shi Minglei will wait for a short period of time. If Milwaukee Tools still does not respond, she is ready to hire a lawyer to start a lawsuit, which may be sued together with e-commerce giant Amazon (Amazon), retail giant Home Depot and other channels.
“I look forward to this case for the first time kicking out the inside story of this industry and giving the entire international community a warning: European and American companies must stop using Chinese slave labor,” Shi Minglei said.
In the past three years, Shi Minglei has contacted Cheng Yuan very few times, and almost all the books, clothes and daily necessities sent in the past could not be delivered to her husband. It was not until the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights visited China in May this year that Shi Minglei seized the opportunity to write an open letter, and Chishan Prison, which was under pressure, did not allow Cheng Yuan to write two letters.
Cheng Yuan’s letter also mentioned that the working hours in the prison are “extraordinarily long”, and there is only about one hour of free time every day, and he has to wait in line to bathe and wash clothes, and because the town is responsible for operating the sewing machine, the optimistic Cheng Yuan can’t help but admit that “the shoulders are very heavy. pain”.
However, when I asked Shi Minglei if she hoped the joint action would bring pressure and force the prison to treat Cheng Yuan kindly, she affirmed that any “improvement” would not be a real improvement for both of them, “because he is not a criminal at all, and he is a criminal every day. You shouldn’t be in there.”
Shi Minglei, who is a Christian, said that she believes that life comes from God, and that “no one or any country can deprive others of their basic rights.” And stepping away from the role of his wife, Shi Minglei still believes that if he remains silent on this matter, ” As a human being, I always feel so shameful.”
The following is the full text of the open letter written by Shi Minglei:
Signs calling for tool industry giant Milwaukee Tools to stop using Chinese prisoners of conscience as slave labor
My name is Mindy, Shi Minglei. I am the wife of Chinese human rights worker Cheng Yuan and the mother of a six-year-old child.
I have not seen my husband for over 1200 days. He was arbitrarily detained, tortured and secretly imprisoned for his human rights work and is currently in Chishan Prison. He was denied access to a lawyer and the right to communicate with the outside world.
Based on the testimony of Mr. Li Mingzhe, who was released from Chishan Prison in April this year, and other released inmates, I found that my husband and other inmates in Chishan were exploited as slave laborers to produce Milwaukee tool gloves.
My husband Cheng Yuan is the founder of the NGO Changsha Funeng and an ardent Chinese human rights advocate. Over the past ten years, he has fought for basic human rights for 100 million vulnerable groups, including those with hepatitis B and HIV, such as the right to education, employment, and medical care. He is one of the leading advocates of ending China’s one-child policy. He also promoted the United Nations Convention against Torture and other United Nations conventions in China.
His work has been fruitful and has greatly improved the living conditions of millions of Chinese people.
When my husband was arrested, my then 3-year-old daughter and I were immediately placed under residential surveillance and threatened by plainclothes Chinese secret police. I was wearing a black hood and handcuffs. The police wouldn’t even allow me to pick up my daughter from kindergarten unless I signed a nondisclosure agreement. The Chinese secret police broke into our house at night without any notice and threatened me in front of my young daughter.
A year later, my daughter’s kindergarten was forcibly closed by the police because it was a Christian school.
Despite the horrific threats I received, I chose to stand up for my husband, risking enforced disappearance and jail time. I fought for him, spoke publicly, gave interviews to the media, kept telling the truth.
I am in danger. To protect my daughter, I have decided to leave China and finally arrive in the US in April 2021.
A few months ago, prisoners released from Chishan Prison in Hunan Province, China, where my husband was held, confirmed that my husband had become a slave laborer whose work was exploited by the Milwaukee Tool Company.
Inmates at Hunan Chishan Prison produce more than 3,000,000 pairs of Milwaukee tool gloves annually. The gloves are sold in stores such as Home Depot across the United States.
Chishan Prison holds about 2,000 detainees, many of whom are prisoners of conscience. Chishan Prison owns a company that makes products for well-known Western brands, with annual profits of more than US$13 million (NT$400 million).
Due to the lack of transparency and the rule of law in China, additional evidence of collaboration, such as pictures or videos, is difficult to obtain. If former Chinese prisoners prove these claims, they will face harsh retaliation from the government. That’s why big companies can get away with using forced labor so widely.
My husband now has severe back, shoulder and lower back pain due to chronic forced labor conditions and lack of worker protection. His hair has turned white and he now weighs less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds). He also had blood in the stool. My husband and the other prisoners in Chishan couldn’t wait any longer.
Prisoners are subjected to the following cruel and inhuman working conditions:
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Work 13-15 hours a day.
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Only 4 days off per year.
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Monthly Salary: US$13.8 (100 RMB, 400 NTD). This salary is 2% of the factory’s Chinese worker and 0.2% of the American worker. 0.13% of Taiwanese workers
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The quality-control manager, surnamed Liu, often instructs prison guards to beat prisoners when they fail to meet standards or have quality problems.
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No protective measures, such as protective masks, are provided. Hazardous materials and hazardous air conditions can lead to lifelong health problems for prisoners.
My heart is broken. I can’t imagine my husband, such a good man, being a slave laborer. Nor can I accept the idea that people in this land of America support these cruel and inhuman conditions.
I call on Milwaukee Tools and its CEO Steven Richman to immediately cease production at Chishan Prison and recall all products produced there.
I call on Home Depot and other retailers that sell Milwaukee tool products to stop selling them immediately.
I call on US Customs and Border Protection to take action under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Make sure these gloves produced by forced labor do not enter the United States.
I call on Senators and Members of Congress in Wisconsin and Milwaukee to ensure that Milwaukee Tools and other companies in this state are no longer allowed to profit from forced labor.
I call for continued pressure on the Chinese government to release my husband Cheng Yuan and all other prisoners of conscience arbitrarily and unjustly detained.
Please sign and share today to support #StopMilwaukeeToolSlaveLabor.
Co-signature link: https://reurl.cc/OEpk6r
(Finish)
Shi Minglei handed out leaflets at the front door of the United Nations headquarters, demanding that China release Cheng Yuan. (provided by respondents)
About the Author｜ Wang Yingzhi (Master of Arts, Department of International Communication, National Chengchi University. I believe everyone has their own pursuits.)
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This article is reprinted from: https://sehseh.substack.com/p/93c
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