Dell earns an 'F' in assessment of US companies’ complicity in China

China
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Dell received an overall "F' score for direct ties with the Chinese government's surveillance program, human rights abuses in its supply chain, and its large footprint in Xinjiang. | Photo by Its me Pravin on Unsplash

Technology giant, Dell, recently received an "F" ranking on "an assessment of U.S. Companies’ exposure to military modernization, surveillance, and human Rights violations in the People’s Republic of China."

The Corporate Complicity Scorecard, which was used to evaluate the company, was funded by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Horizon Advisory.

According to the report, corporate support for Beijing’s military modernization, surveillance state, and human rights abuses is primarily displayed in five ways: offshoring of manufacturing that exposes U.S. industrial chains to forced labor and other human rights atrocities in China; offshoring of innovation in partnership with the Chinese government; partnerships and engagements with Chinese government entities that support military and surveillance-relevant systems; compliance with Beijing’s regulatory system that makes U.S. industry a conduit for the Chinese government’s problematic information collection; and dependencies on the Chinese market that make U.S. industry a conduit for Chinese influence and propaganda abroad.

Several themes have emerged from the report of the profiled companies: first, many U.S. companies are hypocritical by saying one thing in the U.S., yet doing another in China; second, the corporations have off-shored research and development; third, U.S. defense contractors partner with Chinese government and military-tied partners.

Dell received an overall "F' score for direct ties with the Chinese government's surveillance program, human rights abuses in its supply chain, and its large footprint in Xinjiang, the report stated. 

"Dell supports Chinese government entities developing Beijing’s national surveillance programs and cutting-edge data tools," according to the scorecard. "Dell also partners with the Chinese military-civil fusion apparatus. And Dell’s extensive supply chain in China is riddled with indicators of forced labor, at the same time as Dell maintains a regional office in Urumqi, Xinjiang."

Seventy-five percent of Dell’s global production capacity and 85% of its supply chain are based in China, according to the report.

Dell procured approximately $35 billion from China in 2017. In 2021, Dell reportedly provided 1 million jobs in China.

Although headquartered in Texas, Chinese media characterizes Dell as a “foreign-owned local enterprise,” the report stated. Furthermore, Dell's leadership in China describes Dell as “a real ‘local enterprise'" that has “achieved local research and development, local production, and local services.”

The report also found stated the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Automation (CASIA) partnered with Dell to jointly operate a laboratory focusing on artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The institute creates surveillance technologies for the Chinese government and military and has a connection with surveillance operations in Xinjiang.

Dell is connected to partners and suppliers who are also associated with forced labor and surveillance operations in Xinjiang, according to the report.