PROMINENT JAPANESE COMPANIES MULL PULLING THE STRINGS ON BUSINESS

DEALS ALLEGED OF FORCED LABOUR IN XINJIANG

- February 24, 2021, 03:30 P.M.

In a leading development, around a dozen Japanese companies of repute have decided to freeze
their existing business deals with their Chinese partners, who have been identified or have been
alleged benefactors of forced labour sourced through the Uighur community in Xinjiang.

As per a report which Kyodo News takes credit of, there have been calls by activists and
citizenry forums to the Japanese companies in question, to take harsh steps for the prevention of
human rights violations through their supply chain partners. Such an outcry follows closely on
the moves taken by the USA and UK to augment the typologies of import restrictions on good
which were being produced in Xinjiang.

Furthermore, a report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute prepared a

comprehensive list of 82 global brands, with 11 of them being Japanese giants, that depend on
the Xinjiang supply chain and end up promoting, albeit indirectly, practices redolent with
“forced labour”.

Following the Kyodo News report, Toshiba Corp which shares licensing contracts with a
company suspected of using forced labour, has not played down the veracity of the claims but
has formally decided to terminate its operations in symbiosis with the company by December,
2021.

Such a wide sense of trigger action movement across the corporate realm in Japan is in wake of
the global recognition of haplessness prevailing in China. The Chinese Communist Party has
been subject to a series from criticisms from NGOs, human rights activists, journalists and some
national governments alike. The rationale of the Japanese government in this regard remains to
be seen.

Website Links-

1. http://www.businessworld.in/article/12-Japanese-companies-to-cease-business-deals-
involving-Uyghur-forced-labour/23-02-2021-380649/
2. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/08/japanese-firms-reassess-businesses-using-
xinjiang-forced-labor