The reverse side of the Chinese regime’s investments: hundreds of complaints about serious labor abuse at companies operating abroad

China’s efforts to be viewed as a responsible foreign investor are threatened by high rates of human rights violations related to its business activities., especially in the metals and miningaccording to a report released Wednesday. the Resource Center for Business and Human Rights, a global non-governmental organization (NGO), registered 679 allegations of human rights violations against Chinese companies operating abroad between 2013 and 2020.

The metallurgical and mining sector was the one that received the most accusations: 236, 35% of the total. Peru, the world’s second largest producer of copper and a neighbor of China, Burma, the main supplier of tin and rare earth minerals, have been identified as hot spots. China, the world’s largest consumer of metals, does not have sufficient resources to meet domestic demand and has encouraged companies to secure their supply by purchasing assets abroad.

It has also expanded its focus on renewable energies, promising to set up a Belt and Road green infrastructure initiative in its attempt to meet climate goals. “More than a third of complaints against Chinese mining companies abroad were linked to protracted conflicts between large multinational mining companies backed by China and local communities in Latin America and Papua New Guinea (PNG)The report says.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are involved in the production of gold, nickel and cobalt in PNG.

The report cited supply chain due diligence issues by Chinese companies, despite the “proactive efforts“of Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Importers and Exporters of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals (CCCMC).

Sun Lihui, director of the development department of CCCMC, said Reuters that many Chinese supply chain companies had good human rights policies, but did not always focus their efforts where they were needed most. “They only attach importance to disciplinary investigations, but neglect training and guidance of companies in their supply chain“, He said.

After the mining sector, the second highest number of complaints -152- corresponded to the construction sector. These include the loss of livelihood linked to a railroad project in Laos. The fossil fuel and renewable energy sectors have also come under fire, with 118 and 87 complaints respectively, according to the report, which adds that the vast majority of complaints about renewables were related to hydropower projects.

In all sectors, Burma It is the country that received the most complaints, with 97.

The dark side of investing

After the economic take-off of the Chinese regime in the early 1990s, the Asian giant has become in recent decades in one of the main demanders of raw materials and markets in the world, with a planetary famine which led Beijing to spread throughout Asia and trample in Africa and Latin America through competitive loans and investments in infrastructure under the promise of “Bringing development to neglected sectors.”

The most visible face of this process is the initiative of the “Silk Road of the 21st Century”, also known as the “One Stripe, One Road Initiative” (BRI), first unveiled in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the details of which could finally be known in 2017 during the first forum organized on the subject.

This monumental project (only tentatively valued at one trillion dollars) includes investments in transport, communications and energy in 60 countries in Eurasia, Africa and Oceania, create road, rail, river and sea corridors between China and a large part of international markets, also involve Latin America as a gear in the global exchangel raw materials and products.

For most of the participating countries, which are already major trading partners of China, the initiative promises economic growth and development, at the cost of a greater presence of Beijing in internal affairs that many seem ready to accept. But there are also other big problems that creep into investments: ecological disaster produced by a country with a poor environmental protection record; Yes dangerously low worker protection standards from an economy that has been forged on the basis of low wages and large masses of workers.

The environmental risk, another risk

According to a 2018 report published in the Institute of Environmental and Energy Studies (EESI), it is expected that The BRI crosses sensitive ecosystems which until now have not been heavily exploited, causing serious damage to flora and fauna through deforestation, mining, farming and habitat destruction.

So far they have been detected 1,739 of these sensitive areas and 265 endangered species, according to a 2017 World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report.

EESI cites the example of a dam in Sumatra, Indonesia, whose funding has been vetoed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank because it poses too serious a threat to the jungle and species of the Batang Toru ecosystem. But then the Chinese company Sinohydro came along, with funds from the Bank of China, and the project would be about to start, despite the fact that many Indonesian activists and academics opposed.

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