US sharpens solar panel enforcement
Standing Committee updates ‘state secrets’ law, Kiribati to co-op with Chinese police
Washington is toughening enforcement of a ban on products linked to forced labor in Xinjiang, Bloomberg reported.
An extensive questionnaire was sent to companies by US Customs and Border Protection earlier this month … marking a widening effort to seek disclosure about the provenance of modules, panels and other products. Previously, importers only had to provide such information to the agency if it detained their shipments for inspection.
“Producers are going to have trouble answering some of the questions,” said Scott Sklar, director of George Washington University’s Solar Institute, who previously served as chair of the Commerce Department’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee during the Obama administration.
China’s Xinjiang region is the world’s largest producer of polycrystalline silicon used to make photovoltaic panels. The US Congress passed a law in 2021 imposing a ban on imports of goods from Xinjiang made by workers in forced labor camps.
Since 2017, more than a million Muslim Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained in reeducation camps amid a mass crackdown on the Xinjiang population by Beijing that the US and other governments have labelled a genocide.
The US State Department has named 30 Chinese companies in Xinjiang that are using forced labor of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities to produce goods.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, responding to a question from Bloomberg on February 27, again denied allegations of forced labor practices in Xinjiang.
Speaking during a press briefing, Mao called on the US “to immediately stop smearing China, stop meddling in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of human rights and stop politicizing and weaponizing economic and trade issues.”
Standing Committee updates ‘state secrets’ law
China’s government adopted a new law broadening the scope of “state secrets" on February 27 at the conclusion of a two-day meeting of the 165-member National People's Congress Standing Committee.
Endorsed by President Xi Jinping, the revision appears aimed at safeguarding sensitive information not necessarily defined as a state secret.
One provision that has raised eyebrows: a new article 61 would require official entities to designate as “work secrets” [工作秘密] any matters that, though not state secrets, could “impede [their] performance of duties or have an adverse impact on national security or the public interest” if leaked, and require them to take “necessary protective measures, according to NPC Observer, a website that monitors China's legislature.
The rule takes effect May 1 and comes amid a wider security crackdown on foreign businesses operating in China amid a 30-year low in new foreign direct investment.
The meeting approved the agenda and appointments to the presidium and the secretary-general of the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress starting March 5.
After the close of the meeting, Xu Xianming, vice president of the China Law Society and a leading authority on Chinese law, gave a lecture titled "Chinese-Style Modernization and the Rule of Law."
Of note, former Chinese Foreign Minister and US Ambassador Qin Gang, who resigned last year amid a personal scandal, was on a list of lawmakers who had resigned their appointments.
Kiribati to co-op with Chinese police
A US State Department official has issued a note of caution in response to a Reuters report the Pacific island nation of Kiribati will collaborate with uniformed Chinese officers on community policing and a crime database program.
"We do not believe importing security forces from the PRC will help any Pacific Island country. Instead, doing so risks fueling regional and international tensions," an unnamed State Department spokesman told Reuters.
“We are concerned about the potential implications security agreements and security-related cyber cooperation with the PRC may have for any Pacific Island nation’s autonomy,” the spokesperson said.
Further prompting US concern, China has announced plans to rebuild a World War II military airstrip on Kiribati’s Kanton Island.