(JustPatriots.com)- Republicans a growing frustrated with Joe Biden’s so-called Climate Czar John Kerry whom they believe is trying to derail legislation designed to address China’s use of slave labor.
The legislation, The Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act, passed the Senate in July but has stalled in the House. The bill would target Chinese manufacturing which relies on the use of forced labor of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province in northwest China.
Kerry opposes the legislation because he believes it will only increase tension with China at the very time he is trying to secure a climate change deal with Beijing.
In September, Kerry argued that the US can’t on the one hand tell China to do more to help deal with climate change while on the other hand sanctioning their solar panels and making it harder for China to sell them.
Of course, one of Kerry’s reasons for opposing the bill may be a financial one. John Kerry has a financial stake in the Chinese company LONGi Green Energy which receives much of its raw materials from companies suspected of using forced labor in Xinjiang.
Kerry holds a one million dollar stake in Hillhouse China Value Fund, LP — a Chinese private equity fund that is the second-largest shareholder in LONGi Green Energy.
When he was in Glasgow, Scotland for the UN Climate Change Conference earlier this month, Kerry boasted of the progress he has made in reaching a climate deal with China. When he was specifically asked about China’s use of slave labor in the manufacturing of solar panels, Kerry dismissed the question saying, “That’s not my lane.”
After announcing joint "cooperation" with China on climate change, John Kerry chuckles when pressed on China's use of slave labor to build solar panels:
"Not my lane" pic.twitter.com/e3NdUe6if9
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 11, 2021
According to a recent report in the Associated Press, Kerry had engaged in a “forceful debate with other administration officials” on the slave labor issue before his most recent trip to China. These claims are denied by the State Department, which pointed to Kerry’s lengthy career of standing up for human rights.
Problem is, John Kerry is so determined to secure some kind of climate deal with China, he is willing to put human rights on the back burner just to get it done.
One member of Congress seems to have been swayed by Kerry’s lobbying against Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act – Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
In September, after prattling on about China’s human rights abuses especially against the Uyghurs, Pelosi added a gigantic “But,” saying “Climate is an overriding issue” and the US has to be able to work with China on climate change.
