If you’ve ever wondered why a country such as China can get away with imprisoning and torturing more than 2 million innocent people without facing any global consequences, look no further than Nike, a U.S.-based corporation that willingly turns a blind eye to the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses to keep its profit margins high.
It is a well-established fact that China’s detainment of Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang region is genocidal. Women have been forcibly sterilized, children are used as labor slaves, men are arrested baselessly and shoved into political indoctrination camps. China’s goal, as Maisumujiang Maimuer, a Chinese religious affairs official, put it in 2017, is to “break their lineage, break their roots, break their connections, and break their origins.”
But whenever U.S. corporations are asked to confront China’s crimes against humanity and hold the regime accountable, they make excuses for their corporate presence in the region and, in some cases, deny that China is doing anything wrong.
Take, for example, Nike CEO John Donahoe, who has repeatedly defended the company’s business in China, even going so far as to tell Wall Street analysts last month that “Nike is a brand that is of China and for China.” When asked by CNBC why Nike has not been more vocal about China’s human rights abuses, considering it is very vocal about cultural issues here in the United States, Donahoe admitted that it’s all about the money.
“China is a very important market for us. We have a long-term history in China,” he said. “Our founder was in China 40 years ago starting to build what is now an incredible consumer connection that Chinese consumers have with Nike, with Jordan, with Converse. And so, we continue to invest in China. We take a very long-term view with China.”
“China is a very important market for us, we have a long-term history in China,” says @Nike CEO John Donahoe. “We take a very long-term view with China, we’ll continue to invest in China while also operating a very responsible global supply chain.” pic.twitter.com/FdhgU6qOBM
— CNBC’s Closing Bell (@CNBCClosingBell) August 5, 2021
CNBC’s Sara Eisen continued to press Donahoe, asking whether he felt Nike’s presence in China undermined the company’s values given what we know about the CCP’s atrocious crimes. He replied: “Not at all.”
This says it all. You would think Nike and the other U.S. corporations that continue to operate in China would raise at least a hint of concern for the people China oppresses, especially because these same companies are very outspoken about perceived injustices at home. Instead, they remain silent, because their only real goal is to make money and lots of it. At least Donahoe finally admitted as much.
