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Chinese children sold 'like cabbages' into slavery
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Reuters
Posted online: Tuesday , April 29, 2008 at 08:42:59
Updated: Tuesday , April 29, 2008 at 08:42:59 Print Email To Editor Post Comments
Beijing, April 29: Thousands of children in southwest China have been sold into slavery like "cabbages", to work as labourers in more prosperous areas such as the booming southern province of Guangdong, a newspaper said on Tuesday.
China announced a nationwide crackdown on slavery and child labour last year after reports that hundreds of poor farmers, children and mentally disabled were forced to work in kilns and mines in Shanxi province and neighbouring Henan.
"The bustling child labour market (in Sichuan province) was set up by the local chief foreman and his gang of 18 minor foremen, who each manage 50 to 100 child labourers," the Southern Metropolis Newspaper said.
"The children generally fall between the ages of 13 and 15, but many look under 10," it added.
The newspaper said 76 children from the same county, Liangshan, had been missing since the Chinese Lunar Year festival in February, 42 of whom had already left the region to work.
"The youngest kids found in the child labour market were only seven and nine years old," it said.
According to a contract exposed by an undercover reporter, a child labourer is paid 3.5 yuan ($0.50) an hour and must work at least 300 hours a month.
"These kids are robust and can do the toughest work," a foreman was quoted as saying, as he pulled a scrawny girl to stand beside him, the paper said.
Xinhua news agency said the county government had sent officials to rescue the children, but some were unwilling to leave, having been sold into slavery by their parents or volunteering to work themselves.
A Military Opening
Just back from a visit to China, the head of the U.S. Marine Corps sees opportunity for closer ties between the two nations' armed forces.
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If you haven't noticed, the world is watching China. Tibet, the Olympics, human rights, dangerous exports, growing economic power, environmental concerns--all ratchet up scrutiny on how China does business.
Bolstering China's bold political and trade agenda is a rapidly growing military force. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway traveled to China last week to meet with top military commanders. He sat down with NEWSWEEK on Thursday to discuss the unprecedented access granted by China's secretive military. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: In China, you met with top military officials, toured military bases and saw up close some of their battlefield capabilities. What did you see? How significant was it for you as commander of the Marine Corps to make this trip?
James Conway: I was really encouraged because they were fairly open. [People's Liberation Army Navy Commander Vice Admiral Wu Shengli] is very forward-leaning in terms of outreach to the United States … I got to see some things that had just not been divulged before.
In terms of the timing, it was really propitious in ways I didn't quite understand … Most important about the visit--and I didn't plan it this way because we had no idea about the outcome--was it was in the wake of the Taiwan elections. On Taiwan, the electorate elected a president who is not necessarily a strong believer in independence from mainland China … Of course, our policy is … that it is all one China and that they need to sort the geographic and the economic and the physical differences between their people at this point--but that they need to do it peacefully.
Will this election stabilize things?
I think there will probably be bumps, but I think China is uncomfortable that Taiwan could achieve a level of independence that they don't really support at this time. I think [the election] is certainly a step in the right direction. It certainly allows China and Taiwan, and China and the United States to have less probability for friction and more opportunity going forward to do the types of things this visit just finished doing.
Based upon what you saw, how does China stack up as a military force? What are its obvious military priorities and how do those priorities impact U.S. strategy in the region and, more importantly, the Corps' strategy in the region?
It's hard to tell based on one visit, of course. I didn't see everything … China is already a regional power and they're building an increasing capability to extend beyond their national waters with regard to their Navy. That was my primary focus. They have built a fairly impressive force-projection capability, over and above where they were just 10-15 years ago. I got to go aboard an [amphibious ship] that was just built in 2004. I got to go aboard a destroyer that was built within the last couple of years, and it was chocked with weapons systems. So they've got a fairly significant fire-projection capability already.
To get at the essence of your question, one of the people I spoke to, [regional commander Lt. Gen. Zhang Qin Sheng] has humanitarian disaster-relief responsibilities in his district in Guangzhou, yet the Chinese have been reluctant in the past, when you've seen natural disaster in the Asia-Pacific [region], to send forward a capability.
We could work together, share ideas, offer [tactics, techniques and procedures] to each other, maybe war-game or table-top some of these experiences. Then we could deploy a force together. [It] seems to me to be the type of thing that would be very productive both with regard to our relationship [and,] more importantly, at the time [when] you've got a nation that's suffering some natural disaster.
Was he receptive?
There seems to be some interest in that, and I want to pursue that. If it doesn't happen, it will be because they don't want to do it, not because we haven't offered. We can't let these things be rhetoric at this point. We've got to act on them.
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