Concerns are once again growing among U.S. politicians about NBA players who have endorsement deals with Chinese companies accused of using forced labor.
Oregon state Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Myrtle Creek) and Massachusetts state Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Leominster), the chair and co-chair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China, wrote a letter to the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) to inform players about Chinese sportswear companies Li-Ning, Anta and Peak being accused of using forced labor to produce products from the Xianjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China.
“The NBPA has taken a public stand with other professional sports unions against new legislation in state legislatures that could make it harder for citizens to vote, and for amplifying the voices of its members to speak out for justice and police accountability during the protests in the summer of 2020 and since,” the letter stated.
In an effort to sanction the country for atrocities committed against Uyghurs and associated Muslim groups, the U.S. Senate recently passed legislation to deny incoming goods from China’s Xinjiang region.
“We believe that commercial relationships with companies that source cotton in Xinjiang create reputational risks for NBA players and the NBA itself," the letter continued. "The U.S. State Department has determined that the Chinese government is committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, including the mass internment of over a million primarily Muslim ethnic minorities and the systematic use of forced labor to make goods for global export. The NBA and NBA players should not even implicitly be endorsing such horrific human rights abuses.”
Merkley, along with Florida state Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), proposed the bill, according to CNBC.
“We will not turn a blind eye to the CCP’s ongoing crimes against humanity, and we will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses,” Rubio said in a statement, CNBC reported.
“No American corporation should profit from these abuses,” Merkley added. "No American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labor."
Before President Joe Biden can pass the law, the legislation bill must be cleared by the House of Representatives and there is no set itinerary for that vote to take place.
“Americans can’t and shouldn’t conduct business with companies and players that profit through human slavery,” Pennsylvania state Rep. Scott Perry (R-Dillsburg) told Politico. “And that includes NBA players — they can’t sign endorsement deals and benefit off slave labor.”
The Guardian reported that China’s labor-transfer scheme is purported to be part of the government’s massive poverty alleviation campaign, but growing evidence indicates it targets Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and coerces participation.
More than a dozen NBA players have endorsement deals with Anta, Li-Ning and Peak.
Last September, research by Zenz, which was corroborated by Reuters, found authorities in Tibet were massively expanding the labor-transfer program.
Merkley and McGovern said in a press release that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had issued “Withhold Release Orders,” which would deny any goods from the aforementioned Chinese territories to enter the country.