dChan
Anonymous ID: 9e7846 Dec. 1, 2022, 1:46 a.m. No.17857933   šŸ—„ļø.is šŸ”—kun

Hawley has had enough! This time he means business!

 

Josh Hawley Calls on Apple to End ā€˜Unconscionableā€™ Operations in China, Reshore Manufacturing to U.S.

 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is calling on Apple CEO Tim Cook, considered the ā€œarchitectā€ of the multinational corporationā€™s offshoring business model, to end all operations in China and reshore manufacturing to the United States.

 

Most recently, workers at Appleā€™s largest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, China, have started fighting back against the Chinese Communist Partyā€™s (CCP) ā€œZero COVID-19ā€ policy that keeps China residents locked up in their homes and CCP-controlled pods.

 

In response, Apple has bowed to the CCP in restricting the use of Airdrop file-sharing capabilities on Chinese iPhones to help silence dissidents behind anti-lockdown protests.

 

Hawley writes, in a letter to Cook, that Appleā€™s recent actions in China are ā€œunconscionableā€ and warrant the corporation to move all operations out of the communist country and reshore manufacturing to the U.S.

 

ā€œYour continued dependency on Chinese labor not only undermines the interests of the American economy and its workers but has once again led your company to crack down on speech at the Chinese Communist Partyā€™s behest,ā€ Hawley writes to Cook:

 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Chinese Communist Party has subjected the Chinese people to draconian public health measures. During the past week, dissatisfaction with the nationā€™s so-called zero-COVID policy came to a head: from Beijing to Shanghai and Urumqi, citizens took to the streets to protest and voice their dissent. This included demonstrations at a Foxconn factory in the city of Zhengzhou, one of the largest manufacturers of Appleā€™s iPhone. After enduring weeks of stringent pandemic mitigation measures, workers protested and clashed with Chinese law enforcement. Videos of these confrontations, including shocking images of workers being beaten and kicked by officials in hazmat suits, were widely circulated on social media and in the press. [Emphasis added]

 

Since Apple makes more than 95 percent of its iPhones in China, these disruptions pose substantial material risks to Appleā€™s stakeholders. To make matters worse, your company appears to be actively supporting the Chinese governmentā€™s brutal crackdown. For example, public reports indicate that Apple, through a recent software update for iPhones in China, has modified the AirDrop function to make it more difficult for protestors to use this function to evade censorship and surveillance. Unconscionable though this decision may be, it is not surprising: under your leadership, Apple has time and again assisted the Chinese Communist Party in surveilling and suppressing the basic human rights of the Chinese people. At the same time, it appears that Apple might be importing this model of speech control to the United States: reports indicate that your company might de-platform Twitter from the App Store as a consequence of the free speech policies implemented by new ownership. [Emphasis added]

 

You have been called the architect of Appleā€™s strategy to outsource production to China. While this strategy has yielded short-term profits for you and your shareholders, cracks are beginning to emerge in the aftermath of the pandemic and in the face of intensifying geopolitical tensions. It is time for Apple to chart a new path forward. I, therefore, urge you to take meaningful steps to reduce your dependence on Chinese labor, especially by reshoring production in the United States. [Emphasis added]

 

Appleā€™s entanglement with China has been taken to new heights in recent years. In 2016, for example, Cook signed a $275 billion contract with the CCP to prevent a crackdown on the corporationā€™s business in China.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/11/30/josh-hawley-calls-on-apple-to-end-unconscionable-operations-in-china-reshore-manufacturing-to-u-s/