SPIEGEL: Mr. Zenz, why do I, as a consumer, have to care that 20 percent of global cotton production comes from Xinjiang?
Zenz: It is very likely that almost every German consumer has cotton from Xinjiang in their closets. And Forced labor is used in their production.
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SPIEGEL: Tell us the background.
Zenz: There are two major state programs of repression in Xinjiang. One is mass internment in re-education camps. The other is the so-called workforce transfer program. Although many people are relocated, the word transfer refers less to the geographical aspect than to the change in the way of life. Anyone who used to be a farmer or shepherd should become wage laborers.
SPIEGEL: What is the purpose of this?
Zenz: China is committed to ending poverty. In order to be able to declare people free from poverty, however, they must have a measurable income. At least as important goals are control and social change. Uighurs or Kazakhs should no longer live in traditional communities, but in a state-controlled environment of the factories. There they are surrounded by walls, by checkpoints, they can’t just go out to the mosque for a moment, because they usually don’t even exist there. My research has now shown that not only factory workers but also cotton pickers are funneled through this system.
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SPIEGEL: How does the recruiting work?
Zenz: Government teams ask the cotton plantations: “How many pickers do you need?” The sum calculated in this way is set as a quota that must be met. Then officials in the villages knock on every door. “What is your job? What is your income? ”And then there is mobilization. If people have no excuse, for example already in wage labor, then they have to come along.
Hundreds of thousands for forced labor in the cotton fields
SPIEGEL: You cannot do research on site. How do you come to your conclusions?
Zenz: I search through Chinese government documents available on the Internet, but you have to search them for the right keywords in order to make sense of them. It takes a key. In a document about the transfer of work I came across a paragraph by chance that said: “We are transferring 210,000 workers from Aksu and Hotan prefectures to pick cotton.” I almost fell off my chair. This document used a term for “picking cotton” that was not known to me until then. If you search for this term together with the word “transfer of work”, you will come across a lot of evidence.
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SPIEGEL: You write that one must assume that around half a million forced laborers will be sent to the cotton fields. How does this number come about?
Zenz: I’ve added up the few specific numbers I found in official documents. However, these data only refer to the three prefectures of Aksu, Hotan and Kashgar, where a lot of cotton is produced. Xinjiang has more than a dozen prefectures. It is possible that the real number is closer to 800,000 or even higher.
SPIEGEL: But you have to deal with a fundamental problem: Chinese cadres have incentives to report exaggerated numbers to Beijing to suggest that they have over-fulfilled their duty.
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Zenz: A few years ago I would have agreed with this statement, but now I think that is unlikely, especially in Xinjiang. I have a treasure trove of internal documents that clearly show that any exaggeration will be severely punished.
SPIEGEL: Is it wrong that the leaks from Xinjiang are piling up?
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Zenz: The government creates a tremendous amount of data through reporting requirements, and where there are more documents, more documents can leak. More than a million professional officials work in Xinjiang and the human rights situation is well known to local people. It is not that unlikely that a few officers will simply try to slip information on to their relatives or to send an e-mail to a friend abroad.
SPIEGEL: How can we prevent cotton produced with forced labor from reaching the world market?
Zenz: Evidence is a big problem. Cotton is often blended; often the exact origin can no longer be traced. Many companies shirk their responsibility by saying: “We oblige our suppliers that we don’t want cotton from Xinjiang.” How should you control that?
SPIEGEL: Especially since several international companies that certify value chains are themselves withdrawn from Xinjiang to have.
Zenz: It would be best if textile companies stopped buying cotton from China. Unless they can specifically prove that this cotton either does not come from Xinjiang or was really only harvested by machines.
The EU is challenged
SPIEGEL: How realistic is that? Every second T-shirt feels like it is made in China.
Zenz: The problem has long been clear to the textile industry. But now their delaying tactics are reaching their limits. Clear ethical red lines have now been crossed. According to the International Labor Organization, for the offense of forced labor it is not necessary that the work is not paid or that one is forced to do so by threats of punishment. The decisive criterion is involuntary, and this is given by the transfer of work.
SPIEGEL: With regard to Xinjiang, what do you hope for from the new US administration?
Zenz: Joe Biden said that he cares about human rights and wants to have a principled policy towards China. And the situation in Xinjiang is clear. But how can we not only rely on the Americans, the EU is also in demand. I hope for sanctions and measures that will prevent the Chinese government from just going on like this. That she doesn’t get away with it.
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