Statement on US Cooperation's Codes of Conduct in China

By Wei Jingsheng Foundation

April 28, 2003

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One of the major fields this Foundation works on regards workers' rights, as well as the codes of conduct and working conditions of the companies and factories that employ them, including those of foreign companies and joint ventures.  Of course, the US companies have a lot of investment and are doing a lot of business with China.

For these companies, naturally, their primary concern is profit.  Most of them do not want to "interfere with the internal affairs" of China, nor do they want to care about Chinese human rights.  On the surface, it seems very reasonable.  In reality, it has helped the Chinese Communists to restrict and even suppress Chinese human rights, including the flow of information and free expression.  Nevertheless, while these companies only focus on revenues and care about self-protection with their concern of offending the Chinese government, they have really done damage not just to Chinese human rights, but also their own interests.

What these companies have done has effectively reduced the pressure the international community has on the Chinese government.  It is now time for these companies to review their moral and ethical codes.  They should try to apply what they have in their own country to the factories and companies overseas, especially in China.  Among them, these companies should build a moral standard of not protecting the interests of the suppressive Chinese government.  They should not speak in favor of the Chinese government.  They should not work on behalf of what the Chinese government wants yet is unable to accomplish itself, either in China, or in the US, or elsewhere in the world.

Although we know these calls of conscience have their limited appeal, we want to point out that how these companies conduct themselves in China has not just helped the Chinese government to further damage human rights by allowing a poor standard of conduct in China, but also damaged their own interests and that of their employees.  Their conduct has resulted in themselves and their employees being afraid to speak freely, not just inside China, but even overseas.  (We have examples but are not submitting these cases and names until necessary, which involve top brand-name companies.)  It also brings them the hazard of health, which could be life threatening.

Take the recent spread of SARS as an example.  Due to the fact that the Chinese government restricted the truth, instead of spreading the necessary information, their obstacles have helped to spread the virus.  The result is not just damaging the health and lost lives of our fellow Chinese inside China, but also the same threat to the rest of the world, including the health and lives of these companies.

Not long ago, a poor woman with diagnosed SARS was refused health care in the south and had to return to her home in the north.  It was that fateful journey that made more people in the north get infected with the disease, before the poor woman died.  Not any excuse should let the innocent citizens' lives be victimized, and expose the whole world to risk.  It is time for us to realize that pressure must be brought to the Chinese government as much as we can.  That is the responsibility of the whole world, for the welfare of all humanity.  The US companies must strengthen and enhance their own codes of conduct not just in the US, but also in the rest of the world, including China.  These companies have a choice between aligning themselves with the Chinese workers for their welfare, or aligning themselves with the Chinese government to exploit and suppress workers' rights and benefits altogether.

As a matter of fact, the poor workers' benefit protection has a long history.  For more than a decade, there have been more than one hundred twenty million "peasant workers" from the countryside supporting almost all of the construction and service industry, especially the processing industry for export.  In reality, they are "second class citizens" with no official "city registration." They live in terrible temporary shelters.  Due to the lack of official "city registration", they do not have the social and economical benefits the city dwellers may have, and especially they lack health and life insurance.  Under the health system that is guided by rules that refuse patients who do not have money, a sick "peasant worker" basically has nothing for protection even when he/she is very ill, like the woman who died of SARS that was mentioned in the last paragraph.  The so-called "workers union" which is paid by and works for the Chinese government, has done nothing beneficial for these miserable workers.  The owners and enterprisers simply keep an attitude of "one eye open with one eye closed" in dealing with these problems, unless a dispute gets out of control. 

One has to ask, for a government that does not care for the welfare of its own people and lied to protect itself, how could others including these companies trust this kind of government?  How could you give assistance to this type of government in any form, or align your moral codes and ethical conduct with the allowance of this type of government?

It is time for the US companies to act and raise their moral conduct in China, to what we expect of them in the US.  It is time for the US government and congress to act, on behalf of the freedom loving people instead of the profit seeking companies, to ensure the moral and ethical expectation of these companies.

Thank you very much for your attention!

魏京生基金会有关美国公司在中国的道德标准（以及sars病）的声明

2003年4月28日

魏京生基金会在此做以下有关美国公司在中国的道德标准的声明。本基金会关注的重大议题之一是中国工人的权利问题，以及公司工厂的工作条件和管理制度，其中包括外资企业和合资工厂。大家知道，美国许多公司在中国有投资合资生意。

对于这些外资企业来说，盈利当然是主要目的。大多数企业不愿意“插手中国的内部事务”，包括不关心中国的人权问题。表面上看来，这情有可原。但是实际上它无形地助长了中国共产党压制、限制中国人权、剥夺百姓的知情权、以及言论自由的权利。无庸置疑，当企业主单单寻求利润而以“不冒犯中国政府”为自我保护之时，他们不仅伤害了中国人民的人权，而且伤害了他们自身的利益。

外资企业所作所为，非常有效地减少了国际舆论对中国政府的压力。我们认为，重新审视商业投资合作中的道德准则，并将之实施于本土和海外的企业工厂，特别是那些在中国的企业工厂，已经是刻不容缓的事情了。这些向海外投资经商的人们需要树立这样一个道德标准：不再保护中国政府，不再替一个不讲人权的政府说话，不再帮助中国政府完成它本来力所不及的事情。

我们知道，良心的召唤力量有限。但是我们要指出的是，这些外资企业主们降低道德标准的做法，不仅仅是帮助中国政府进一步践踏人权，而且影响到了他们雇佣的工人们的直接利益，最终会影响到企业主自身的利益。他们的做法使得自己和被雇佣的工人们在中国和海外都噤若寒蝉。（我们有许多这方面的实例，但是因为它牵扯到有名的大公司，只有到了必要的时候，才将提交有关的事例和姓名。）有些公司因为忽略工人的劳动条件，已经直接给工人的健康带来损害甚至生命威胁。

以最近在中国流行的非典型肺炎（SARS）为例，由于中国政府控制新闻界公布真相，病毒代替了真相而广泛流传。结果不仅危及了我们中国同胞的健康生命，而且危害了全世界，其中也包括美国企业职工的健康和生命。

不久前,一位患有非典型肺炎的妇女在南方被推出医院后，不得不回北方的家乡。这位妇女在一路上又感染了多名旅客后死去。为什么会丧失这许多无辜的生命？为什么全世界都感到了非典的威胁？我们到了应该明白的时候了-全世界都必须对中国政府施加压力。这是整个世界的责任，对他们自己的责任。这责任之中就包含有美国公司的道德规范的问题-不仅仅是他们在美国的，也包括在世界其它地区包括在中国的道德。这些公司有他们的选择，是与中国的工人们在一起并保障工人们的权益，还是与中国政府一起欺压与剥削工人的权益。

实际上工人们的福利得不到保障已经由来已久。十多年来下来，来自农村的“民工” 总数已经超过了一亿两千万，他们支撑着大陆几乎所有的建筑、服务产业，尤其是出口加工业。他们实际身份是“二等公民”，没有正式户口，通常住在条件恶劣的临时住处，自然也没有正常的医疗保险、人身保险。在“不交钱不看病”的医疗体制下，一个生了重病的民工基本上就是没有任何保障。我们才提到的那位因SARS而亡的妇女就是一个例证。而由国家豢养的所谓“工会”，对他们的疾苦没有做过任何有意义的工作。企业主们则基本上眼睁眼闭，保持“不到纠纷弄大了不过问”的态度。

人们不禁要问，对于一个不关心自己人民死活和福利，只知说谎保护自身利益的政府，人们（包括那些外国投资企业）如何可以对它信赖？人们又如何可以给于这样的政府任何形式的帮助？人们如何可以牺牲自己的道德标准而得到中国政府的应允和奖赏？

现在是做出行动的时候了：美国在中国的公司应当将它在中国的道德标准提高到我们在美国所期望的那样；美国国会和政府应当代表热爱自由的人们，而不是代表仅仅热衷利益的商人，来监督和确保美国海外投资公司的基本道德规范。

谢谢关注。