Amazon has earned a “D” grade on the Corporate Complicity Scorecard, which assesses U.S. companies’ exposure to military modernization, surveillance and human rights violations in the People’s Republic of China.
The report was funded by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Horizon Advisory.
According to the scorecard, corporate support for Beijing’s military modernization, surveillance state and human rights abuses were displayed through five primary ways.
Among these include; the offshoring of manufacturing that exposes U.S. industrial chains to forced labor and other human rights atrocities in China; the 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 and dependencies on the Chinese market that make U.S. industry a conduit for Chinese influence and propaganda abroad.
"Amazon receives a D for its operations in China: Through a network of innovation centers and the Chinese business of Amazon’s cloud offerings, Amazon supports the cultivation of China’s military and surveillance systems and the innovation underlying those,” the report stated.
Several themes emerged from the report, including findings that American companies often say one thing in the U.S. and do another in China, and many have supported offshore research and development, which can threaten American innovation, according to the report.
The report also found that several U.S. defense contractors partner with Chinese government and military-tied partners.
Amazon is assisting China as it ramps up its information technology, artificial-intelligence and big data architecture, the report stated. Amazon Web Services (AWS) jointly operates six innovation centers and two data centers with the Chinese government and Chinese-backed entities known for military and domestic surveillance programs.
In a 2019 Australian Foreign Policy Institute report, Amazon was identified as being a company that benefitted from forced labor practices by using Uyghur workers. Recent reports accuse the Chinese government of committing human rights abuses against the minority group.