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Economist Podcasts

Unpicking the thread: forced labour in Xinjiang

Economist Podcasts

The Economist

News, News & Politics

4.35K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sanctions are tightening around the Chinese province amid suspicions of forced labour. Western firms that are reliant on the region’s cotton and other commodities are in a bind. The pandemic has shown the merits of some governments’ digitised bureaucracies, but rushing the digital shift comes with risks. And how Canada’s border closures threaten a tiny town in remotest Alaska. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

0:09.4

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

0:17.2

When it comes to digitized records and digital government, some countries are further along than others.

0:23.6

Britain's National Health Service still buys fax machines every year, but one upside of the pandemic is that it's speeding up digital shifts.

0:33.6

And the remote hamlet of Hyder in Alaska was so linked with nearby Stewart that you'd barely know it was across the Canadian border.

0:43.3

COVID-19 has broken those links, and border controls are stopping much-needed provisioning for the winter.

0:50.3

But But first,

0:58.6

A backlash is growing against China's abuse of Uyghurs,

1:05.3

a mainly Muslim ethnic minority group in the province of Xinjiang.

1:08.9

The Chinese Communist Party is detaining and abusing more than one million Uyghur Muslims

1:13.5

and interminic camps in Xinjiang.

1:15.8

We met one former detainee who described being placed in chains and a full metal jacket

1:22.1

as he was interrogated.

1:24.9

This week, Disney came under fire for filming its new movie Moulin in Xinjiang and for thanking

1:30.9

the region's government in the closing credits.

1:33.1

Calls for people to boycott the film returned once again this week.

1:37.6

At the same time, came news that the Trump administration is considering a ban on importing

1:42.3

products containing cotton from the province.

1:45.0

It's responding to concerns that some Chinese companies rely on forced labor by Uyghurs.

1:51.0

The evidence of China's persecution of the minority group has been piling up,

1:55.0

and for multinational companies that depend on Chinese suppliers, it's a thorny issue.

2:08.6

Xinjiang is a very important production base for certain agricultural products in China, and it's also a place which has attracted a tremendous amount of scrutiny for human rights issues.

...

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