Detained Over Ivanka Trump Factory Inspection, China Labor Activist Speaks Out

By KEITH BRADSHER

Workers on the assembly line in December at the Huajian Gongguan shoe factory, where merchandise for Ivanka Trump’s brand is made. The factory was being investigated by labor activists.

SHANGHAI — Hua Haifeng started May by taking a job at a factory that made shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand. 

By the end of the month, Mr. Hua, an experienced labor activist, was stranded in a crowded police holding cell, kicked by a fellow inmate and facing long interrogations about a wristwatch with a concealed video camera.
On Monday, in his first interviews since his release on bail, Mr. Hua described how he was barred from leaving mainland China, had been denied access to a lawyer, and had to sleep next to a bucket of urine while in custody.
The case involving Mr. Hua and two fellow activists has focused unwanted attention not only on poor labor practices in China, but also on the manufacturing operations of Ms. Trump, the president’s daughter and a special adviser in the White House.
China Labor Watch, a New York-based labor advocacy group, hired Mr. Hua, 36, in early May as a consultant to join two younger activists who had taken jobs at two Huajian International shoe factories in southern China. 

He was supposed to help them produce videos of labor conditions in the factories, then take them to Hong Kong, Mr. Hua said on Monday.

After he found a job at one of the factories in Dongguan, a city in southern China near Hong Kong, he learned the ultimate focus of their efforts: Ms. Trump’s brand. 

He said that the news made him resolve to be particularly thorough, but did not prompt him to worry that the case might be politically delicate.

“I thought President Trump was only doing the president’s job, and his daughter was only doing business,” he said.
When Mr. Hua tried to visit Hong Kong to discuss video details with Li Qiang, the founder and director of China Labor Watch, nearly two weeks later, he was stopped by Chinese border police and told that he could not leave mainland China. 

The next day, he fled 250 miles inland to Ganzhou, the location of the other factory, and met Li Zhao, one of the other China Labor Watch activists.
A day later, the police grabbed both of them and Su Heng, the third activist. 

The police took them to a detention center and put each in a different holding cell with common criminals.
Mr. Hua ended up in a cell with about 20 other men, who forced him to take the least desirable bunk: next to the urine bucket, where the smell and noise kept him awake at night. 

When he tried to warn the police the next day that his case would be internationally prominent and should be handled differently, another detainee stopped him with a swift kick.
“It was not a heavy kick,” Mr. Hua said. 

“I think he just wanted to warn me and didn’t want me to call for meeting the police.”
During the weeks that followed, Mr. Hua said, he was interrogated about 16 times, each time for periods between 30 minutes and three hours. 

He was not allowed access to a lawyer for the first week of his detention.
A State Department spokeswoman urged China on June 5, a week after the activists had been detained, to release the men and grant them legal protections and a fair trial. 

China rejected that request as an interference in its internal affairs, but soon allowed Mr. Hua access to a lawyer for the first time. 

China Labor Watch says the defendants have had very limited access to lawyers, and that the authorities have pressured the lawyers not to speak about the case.
The State Department spokeswoman, Alicia Edwards, also said that American companies benefited when undercover labor investigators could help make sure that Chinese manufacturers were respecting labor laws.
Ms. Trump has stayed silent about the case since the original detentions, while her company has repeatedly declined to comment and did so again Monday.
Local officials in Ganzhou released all three on bail from the detention facility on June 28, pending a trial, but have not yet indicted the men on specific charges or set a trial date. 

The Chinese authorities have repeatedly declined to comment on the case and had no comment Monday night. Chinese censors have deleted coverage of the case in mainland Chinese online media.
Mr. Hua said that he had decided during his four-week detention that he would speak to the news media after his release because he thought the public had a right to know about what he described as excessive work hours and other unfair or illegal labor practices at Huajian.
His two colleagues have kept low profiles since their release and could not be reached for comment. Li Zhao has changed mobile phones since his release. 

A relative of Mr. Su declined to pass a message on to him.
China Labor Watch has done hundreds of undercover inspections over the years of labor practices in supply chains of multinational companies, including Samsung and Apple. 

But this case is the first in which the Chinese authorities have detained the group’s activists, much less pushed them into the country’s labyrinthine criminal justice system, said Li Qiang, the organization’s founder.
Mr. Hua also said that a journalist had given him a wristwatch several years ago that could be used to record video, and added that the watch was a subject of repeated police questioning. 

But he said that he had never used it in any of his undercover work because the quality of the video was poor and the device’s battery life was extremely short.
He said that he had lent the watch to his fellow activist, Li Zhao, who also worked at the factory in Dongguan. 

Huajian International, which owns that factory and the one in Ganzhou, is a giant company that has manufactured shoes for the Ivanka Trump brand and many others. 

Mr. Li experimented briefly with the wristwatch but also concluded it was useless, Mr. Hua said.
Mr. Hua said he opted to use the camera on his mobile phone, but had only filmed while in public areas at the Dongguan factory.
Jerome Cohen, the faculty director of New York University’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute and the best-known Western specialist on China’s criminal justice system, said that the legality or illegality of any specific piece of equipment under Chinese eavesdropping laws was a complex subject on which the legal system would tend to defer to the judgment of the police.
While the Chinese government engages in extensive surveillance of the population, he added, “it wants to reserve for itself, not the public, the right to do so.”
Zhang Huarong, the chairman and founder of Huajian, and the company have denied that they broke any labor laws.

The Totalitarian Temptation

The White House's silence on the state of human rights in China is back in the spotlight following Ivanka Trump's link to spotty Chinese labor policies and ahead of the 28th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
By Nyshka Chandran

Donald Trump interacts with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago state in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 6, 2017.

While U.S. policy on the matter has long remained non-confrontational, "the current dismissive attitude towards human rights is jarring," Margaret Lewis, a professor specializing in China's legal system at Seton Hall University, said in a Wednesday note published by the Council on Foreign Relations.
On June 4, 1989, mainland troops violently targeted pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's famed Tiananmen Square and to-date, the detention of political activists and enforced disappearance of critics remain among the top social challenges weighing on the world's second-largest economy.
Other issues include poor employment standards, limited freedom of expression through strict online censorship and media controls. 

This week, China Labor Watch activist Hua Haifeng was arrested and accused of illegal surveillance after investigating conditions of low pay and misuse of student interns at a Chinese company that produces Ivanka Trump-brand shoes.
Around 250 rights lawyers and activists have been targeted in a crackdown by the Chinese government that started in July 2015, according to Amnesty International.
In the run-up to Donald Trump's April 7 meeting with Xi Jinping, many wondered whether the unpredictable leader would stress the need for Beijing to embrace international human rights standards, having already upset the mainland on a myriad of other issues such as trade.
Following the closely-watched summit, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a media briefing that human rights were "embedded in every discussion" and guided Trump's view on bilateral economic, military and foreign policy cooperation.
But as Trump strikes a conciliatory tone with Beijing to resolve the North Korea conflict following months of anti-China remarks, the White House has yet to strongly address the thorny issue. 

The new U.S. ambassador to China, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who claims to have known Xi Jinping for three decades, has promised to prioritize human rights — but doubts still remain.
"Will freedom of expression be a central component of discussions regarding cybersecurity? And will protections for the accused be at the forefront of conversations regarding repatriating fugitives as part of bilateral law enforcement efforts?" questioned Lewis.

The Chinese Connection

Arrested, missing China activists spark criticism of Trump

By ERIKA KINETZ

China Labor Watch investigator Hua Haifeng
SHANGHAI — The arrest and disappearance of three labor activists investigating a Chinese company that produces Ivanka Trump shoes in China prompted a call for her brand to stop working with the supplier and raised questions about whether the first family’s commercial interests would muddy U.S. leadership on human rights.
“Ivanka’s brand should immediately cease its work with this supplier, and the Trump administration should reverse its current course and confront China on its human rights abuses,” Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said in a Wednesday email. 

Ivanka Trump must decide, she added, “whether she can ignore the Chinese government’s apparent attempt to silence an investigation into those worker abuses.”
Amnesty International called Wednesday for the release of China Labor Watch investigator Hua Haifeng, as well as his two colleagues, who are feared to have been detained.
The men were working with an American nonprofit group to publish a report next month alleging low pay, excessive overtime and misuse of student labor, according to China Labor Watch executive director Li Qiang, who lost contact with the investigators over the weekend. 

The investigators also witnessed verbal abuse, with one manager insulting staff about poorly made shoes and making a crude reference in Chinese to female genitalia, according to Mr. Li.
China Labor Watch has been exposing poor working conditions at suppliers to some of the world’s best-known companies for nearly two decades, but Mr. Li said his work has never before attracted this level of scrutiny from China’s state security apparatus.
The arrest and disappearances come amid a crackdown on perceived threats to the stability of China’s ruling Communist Party, particularly from sources with foreign ties such as China Labor Watch. Faced with rising labor unrest and a slowing economy, Beijing has taken a stern approach to activism in southern China’s manufacturing belt and to human rights advocates generally, sparking a wave of critical reports about disappearances, public confessions, forced repatriation and torture in custody.
China Labor Watch’s investigation also had an unusual target: a brand owned by the daughter of the president of the United States.
Ivanka Trump’s lifestyle brand imports most of its merchandise from China, trade data show. 

She and her father both have extensive trademark portfolios in China, though neither has managed to build up a large retail or real estate presence here. 

The sister of Jared Kushner, a Trump adviser and husband of Ivanka, traveled to China this past month to court investment from Chinese families for a real estate project in New Jersey.
“The eagerness of members of the family to do business in China while airbrushing very troubling human rights and labor rights records of the country is troubling,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia director for Amnesty International. 

He said it is only a matter of time before it is known “to what extent business is trumping any kind of consideration of the diplomatic capital of the U.S. in promoting human rights, labor rights and democracy.”
White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks referred questions to Trump’s brand. 

The Ivanka Trump brand declined to comment.
Abigail Klem, who took over day-to-day management when the first daughter became a White House presidential adviser, has said the brand requires licensees and their manufacturers to “comply with all applicable laws and to maintain acceptable working conditions.”
China tightened control over foreign NGOs starting this year by requiring them to register with state security. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing Wednesday that she was not aware of the arrest and disappearances. 

She said China welcomed international NGOs to carry out research, but added, “we also hope that NGOs can also observe Chinese laws and regulations and don’t engage in any illegal actions or behavior.”
Mr. Hua was accused of illegal surveillance, according to his wife, Ms. Deng Guilian, who said the police called her Tuesday afternoon. 

Ms. Deng said the caller told her she didn’t need to know the details, only that she would not be able to see, speak with or receive money from her husband, the family’s breadwinner. 

The crime carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment.
Mr. Li said China Labor Watch asked police about Mr. Hua and the two other investigators, Li Zhao and Su Heng, on Monday but received no reply.
The Associated Press was unable to reach the other investigators’ families. 

China’s Ministry of Public Security and police could not be reached for comment Tuesday, which was a national holiday in China. 

Calls went unanswered Wednesday morning.
The men were investigating Huajian Group factories in the southern Chinese cities of Ganzhou and Dongguan. 

Ms. Su had been working undercover at the Ganzhou factory since April, Mr. Li said.
In January, Liu Shiyuan, then spokesman for the Huajian Group, told the AP that the company makes 10,000 to 20,000 pairs of shoes a year for Ms. Trump’s brand — a fraction of the 20 million pairs the company produces a year. 

A current spokeswoman for the company, Long Shan, did not reply to questions Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
Mr. Li said investigators had seen Ivanka Trump-brand merchandise, as well as production orders for Ivanka Trump, Marc Fisher, Nine West and Easy Spirit.
“We were unaware of the allegations and will look into them immediately,” a spokeswoman for Marc Fisher, which manufactures Ivanka Trump, Easy Spirit and its own branded shoes, said in an email Tuesday. 

Nine West did not respond to requests for comment.

Banana Republic: The Chinese Collusion

Activist probing factories making Ivanka Trump shoes in China arrested
By John Ruwitch | SHANGHAI

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump speaks at The MISK Event on the second day of his visit to Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2017. 

A man has been arrested and two are missing in China after conducting an investigation into a Chinese company making Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, said on Wednesday.
Labor activist Hua Haifeng was arrested in Jiangxi province on suspicion of illegally using eavesdropping equipment, according to Li Qiang, executive director of the group China Labor Watch.
The three men had been investigating labor conditions at factories that produce shoes for Ivanka Trump, the daughter of  Donald Trump, and other Western brands, he said in an email.
"We appeal to Trump, Ivanka Trump herself, and to her related brand company to advocate and press for the release our activists," China Labor Watch said in the email to Reuters.
The Ivanka Trump brand declined to comment while the White House and Ivanka Trump's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Calls to provincial police in Jiangxi and Ganzhou city police were not answered.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did know anything about the situation and declined further comment.
The reported arrest and disappearances come at a time of sustained pressure on labor activists in China amid a crackdown on civil society under Xi Jinping.
In recent years, many labor rights activists have reported being intimidated and harassed, detained, or restricted in their movement.
Li said in 17 years of activism, including investigations of hundreds of factories in China, his group had never had anyone arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime.
"This is the first time we've come across this kind of situation," he said, adding the accusation against Hua had "no factual basis".

'PROTECTION NOT PROSECUTION'
Rights group Amnesty International called for the release of the three if they were held only for investigating possible labor abuses at the factories.
"Activists exposing potential human rights abuses deserve protection not persecution," said William Nee, the group's China researcher.
"The trio appear to be the latest to fall foul of the Chinese authorities’ aggressive campaign against human rights activists who have any ties to overseas organizations, using the pretence of 'national security'."
China Labor Watch's Li said Hua and another investigator, Li Zhao, had worked covertly at a shoe factory in the city of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, that was owned by the Huajian Group.
The third investigator, Su Heng, had worked at a related factory in the city of Ganzhou in Jiangxi but went incommunicado after May 27. 

Both factories produced Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, Li Qiang said.
The investigators had discovered evidence that workers' rights had been violated, Li said.
Hua had been investigating a vocational school in Jiangxi affiliated with Huajian Group when he was arrested.
A woman surnamed Mu who said she was in charge of recruitment at Huajian said she had not heard about the case.
A switchboard operator at Huajian's headquarters declined to transfer Reuters to company officials in a position to address questions about the situation.
Hua and Li Zhao had been warned by authorities weeks ago that they were suspected of having broken the law, and were barred from crossing the border into Hong Kong in April and May, Li Qiang said.