US companies 'corporate complicity' evaluated in China as geopolitical tensions rise

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Facebook, Google and several U.S. companies were recently evaluated for corporate complicity in China. | Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

As tensions continue to build between the United States and China, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Horizon Advisory have developed a report called the “Corporate Complicity Scorecard.”

The scorecard assesses U.S. companies’ exposure to military modernization, human rights violations, and government surveillance in China.

The companies that were profiled in the evaluation include Amazon, Apple, Dell, Facebook, General Electric, Google, Intel and Microsoft. Facebook and Google received a B grade; Amazon and Apple D grades, while Dell, GE, Intel, and Microsoft all received an F.

“Four of the companies failed at least one of the five binary “auto-fail” tests concerning their ties to China, resulting in four F grades,” the report stated.

Dell and GE received the low mark for operations in Xinjiang, according to the scorecard. Intel, Microsoft, and GE received low marks for providing direct support to the military or state security.

Companies were scored on the dimensions of “operations” and “partnerships.” The grade they received is the average of the two scores rounded down to the nearest whole letter if the average is between letter grades.

“Those scores in turn are measured based on a series of variables that begin with binary, ‘auto-fail’ tests and move into relative scoring of both quantitative and qualitative material,” the report stated.

While the report stated that doing business in China is not “inherently wrong,” the findings demonstrate support provided by U.S. companies for Beijing’s surveillance efforts, human rights abuses, and military modernization.

Five key areas significantly contributed to the markings for each company including offshoring of manufacturing exposing U.S. industrial chains to forced labor; offshoring of innovation in partnership with the Chinese government and military; partnerships and engagements with the Chinese government that support its military and surveillance systems; compliance with Beijing’s regulatory system; and depending on the Chinese market for Chinese influence and propaganda.

The report also claimed that many U.S. companies are hypocritical, as they say one thing in the U.S., yet do another in China, many have supported off-shore research and development, and several U.S. defense contractors partner with Chinese government and military-tied partners.