Correspondence
Email sent to the media relations contact for China Southern Airlines.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and the role China Southern Airlines plays in labor transfers from China’s Xinjiang province to Shandong. Our research shows that China Southern Airlines has been contracted by the state to transfer ethnic minority workers from Xinjiang province to other regions across China, including Shandong province, as early as 2020 and as recently as March 2022. The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment programs which use coercive methods in worker enrollment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor. Does China Southern Airlines have any comment or clarification to make in response to this email? Please let me know by close of business on August 18, 2023."