Chinese police hold rights activist investigating Trump shoe factory
AN ACTIVIST investigating working conditions at a factory in China that supplies shoes for Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand has been detained.
Another two men involved with the investigation had gone missing, Usbased campaign group China Labor Watch (CLW) said.
Hua Haifeng, 36, was held by police and accused of “illegal surveillance”, Deng Guilian, his wife, said.
“It was a huge blow when the police called me,” said Ms Deng, after she was informed of her husband’s situation by security officials in Ganzhou, in China’s south-east Jiangxi province. “He is the sole breadwinner in our family and I have two children, aged seven and three. I don’t know who I can turn to for help.”
Li Qiang, the executive director of New York-based CLW, said the three activists were investigating two factories owned by footwear producer Huajian Group. One of the plants is located in the city of Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province. The other is in Ganzhou. Both factories produce Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, said Mr Li, who added that evidence of workers’ rights being violated had been uncovered. Aside from Ivanka Trump, the factory also manufactures products for Coach, Nine West, Karl Lagerfeld and Kendall + Kylie, Mr Li said.
Amnesty International said Mr Hua was detained last week after he attempted to travel to Hong Kong to publicise the findings of the undercover investigation. It also said his two colleagues, Li Zhao and Su Heng, were “feared detained”. William Nee, China Researcher at the rights group, said: “Activists exposing potential human rights abuses deserve protection, not persecution from the authorities.”
The arrest has highlighted again the Trump family’s business dealings in China. Last month, there was an outcry after Nicole Kushner Meyer, the sister of White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, headlined events in Beijing and Shanghai to seek investment worth more than $150million in a US luxury apartment complex.
The detention also comes amid a crackdown by authorities on those who highlight poor working conditions in the country.
A slowing economy has seen wages being hit, prompting concern in Beijing that anger at falling living conditions could turn into organised protest against Communist Party rule.
China rejects criticism of its human rights record and regularly gives statements that it is a country governed by the rule of law.