CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE/REX TILLERSON: “China is among the worst offenders for its failure to crack down on human trafficking within its borders, according to a strongly worded State Department report released Tuesday [6-27-17].
In its annual assessment of global efforts to end forms of modern slavery, the State Department dropped China to the lowest tier of its ranking this year, as it did with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo.
Those three nations joined 20 others already in that designation, including Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.
Forced labor among drug addicts, and among ethnic minorities including the Uighurs, was listed as a key reason China dropped to the lowest tier, as were reports that the country continued to forcibly repatriate North Koreans despite threats that Pyongyang would punish such returnees with prison and forced labor.
The report was presented in a formal announcement Tuesday attended by Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.”
-Gardiner Harris, “China Is Among Worst Human Trafficking Offenders, State Dept. Says,” The New York Times online, June 27, 2017