Centre Asks US to Approach ILO for Adjudication on Treatment of Labour in China

By: Michael Mike

The Centre for China Studies (CCS) has called on the United States to approach the International Labour Organisation if there is anything she finds unlawful in the administration of labour matters in China.

The Centre, said the recent action of the United States signing into law the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act which affects the people of North West Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China was illegal and highly provocative.

CCS , a major Think Tank focusing on China’s political system, social outlook, international relations and especially the dimension of China-Africa cooperation and Nigeria-China relations, made this known in Abuja on Monday.

Addressing a press conference, the CCS Director, Charles Onunaiju, noted the act by the United States “was deployed to contain China’s development and smear, besmirch China’s achievements in the field of gainful employment for all her citizens with a guarantee of the dignity of labour.”

He said: “But the U.S ruling circles ideologically fixated to contain China’ development by deploying such extremist measures as the obnoxious extra-territorial law, design to smear and besmirch China’s achievements in the field of gainful employment for all her citizens with a guarantee of the dignity of labour.

“Despite China’s unique political system and process which considerably was fundamental to its tool-box in addressing long standing cankerworm of poverty, its targeted-policy approaches could be of benefit to different Socio-economic climes and support the respective national efforts of other countries to scale up assault against poverty and boost their peoples sustainable pathway to poverty alleviation.”

Also Read: Youths contributes N2.1 million to repair road in Yobe

He added that: “Even as the China’s experience and feat in the struggle and end of absolute poverty is in the mainstream of global discourse for its significance for all countries especially in the global South and particularly in Africa, the ruling circles in the US have thrown a spanner in the wheel, not only in its forlorn strategy of attempting to contain China’s development but to douse the world wide enthusiasms of the different peoples, organizations and countries of the China’s epic defeat of absolute poverty and its significance for global struggle against poverty.

“China’s feat on defeating extreme material deprivation ahead of United Nations sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aimed at eliminating poverty by 2030 was significant in adding momentum to the global fight to bring poverty to its heels by the end of 2030” he noted.

Onunaiju said: “We are not defending China for it has machinery in place to do this. But, we are only concerned that the peace in the world is not rocked.”

He stressed that if the US or any other country that feels concerned about the violation of labour law or rights, the United Nations agency saddled with such a task, ILO should be approached for adjudication.

Also speaking, a Senior Fellow at the Centre, Comrade Abbas Hassan said it is unfortunate that the U.S. is posing as defender and protector of minority rights, but had a lot of unresolved minority rights issues under its nose especially with Black Liberation Movement.

He said that China has no history of colonialising anywhere, but American’s neo-colonial exploits abound in Africa.    

In his remark, Executive Director of Association of Community Social Volunteers International (ACSVI), Dr. Liman Mohammed, said there is urgent need to step up discussion on the topic, while noting that the United States is doing everything humanly possible to frustrate China’s good intentions to the world.

A Commentator on International Affairs and Diplomacy, Greg Odogwu alleged that the whole game is about disrupting world economic value chain and supply which China is spearheading, insisting that the United States is not comfortable with this and urged the rational and reasoning world to be mindful of the antics of the West.

Centre Asks US to Approach ILO for Adjudication on Treatment of Labour in China