Will China flood globe with EVs, green tech? What's behind latest US-China trade fight - The Mainichi
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- China's burgeoning production of electric cars and other green technologies has become a flashpoint in a new U.S.-China trade fight

China has sharply ramped up its production of cheap electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries just as the Biden administration has pushed through legislation supporting many of those same industries in the United States. ⠀

Chinese automaker BYD had recently introduced an electric SUV at the “astonishingly low” price of $14,000. China’s auto industry poses an “existential threat” to U.S. carmakers, the report argued. ⠀

After more than a decade of subsidizing its automakers, China has built a substantial car industry that accounts for 60% of global electric vehicle sales, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency. ⠀

Yellen highlighted the Biden administration’s concerns by recalling a visit a week earlier to Suniva, a solar cell manufacturer in Norcross, Georgia.

The company “was once forced to close down, like other companies across a number of industries, because it could not compete against large quantities of goods that China was exporting at artificially depressed prices,” Yellen said. ⠀

China hasn’t committed to any steps to address American concerns, arguing that its cheap solar panels and other green products are helping the world wage the costly battle against climate change.

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  • Sizzler@slrpnk.net
    324·
    9 months ago

    If you don’t understand the human rights element to the discussion then do some research. That’s all their pointing out.

    Any industry that is subsidised by any government shouldn’t really be exported imo.

    • naturalgasbad@lemmy.ca
      21·
      9 months ago

      We’re talking about the country that constitutionally protects the right to slavery, right?

      We’re also talking about the same country that gives semiconductor companies billions of dollars, EV companies billions of dollars, and cuts tax breaks to pharmaceutical companies, right?

      Wait… Which country are we talking about?

    • BennyHill500@lemmy.ml
      173·
      9 months ago

      if you think there is a human rights element to the discussion, and its not about the USA and their allies (like israel), then you need to do some research.

      • Sizzler@slrpnk.net
        221·
        9 months ago

        I totally agree, we need better human rights all round so defaulting to the cheapest and worst seems funking stupid.

        Edit: oops didn’t notice which world news this is, what a surprise.

        • Arcturus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          13·
          9 months ago

          defaulting to the cheapest and worst

          Fortunately we’re moving towards not defaulting to imperial core countries anymore.

          We’re moving towards a country that has lifted 800 million people out of poverty so far and prioritizes workers over capitalists.

    • iknt@lemmy.ml
      112·
      9 months ago

      If it’s about Xinjiang then:

      The US’s “Uyghur genocide” (“cultural” or otherwise) disinformation campaign has already been debunked several times over.

      We see here for example the evolution of public opinion in regards to China. In 2019, the ‘Uyghur genocide’ was broken by the media (Buzzfeed, of all outlets). In this story, we saw the machine I described up until now move in real time. Suddenly, newspapers, TV, websites were all flooded with stories about the ‘genocide’, all day, every day. People whom we’d never heard of before were brought in as experts — Adrian Zenz, to name just one; a man who does not even speak a word of Chinese.

      Organizations were suddenly becoming very active and important. The World Uyghur Congress, a very serious-sounding NGO, is actually an NED Front operating out of Germany […]. From their official website, they declare themselves to be the sole legitimate representative of all Uyghurs — presumably not having asked Uyghurs in Xinjiang what they thought about that.

      The WUC also has ties to the Grey Wolves, a fascist paramilitary group in Turkey, through the father of their founder, Isa Yusuf Alptekin.

      Documents came out from NGOs to further legitimize the media reporting. This is how a report from the very professional-sounding China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) came to exist. They claimed ‘up to 1.3 million’ Uyghurs were imprisoned in camps. What they didn’t say was how they got this number: they interviewed a total of 10 people from rural Xinjiang and asked them to estimate how many people might have been taken away. They then extrapolated the guesstimates they got and arrived at the 1.3 million figure.

      Sanctions were enacted against China — Xinjiang cotton for example had trouble finding buyers after Western companies were pressured into boycotting it. Instead of helping fight against the purported genocide, this act actually made life more difficult for the people of Xinjiang who depend on this trade for their livelihood (as we all do depend on our skills to make a livelihood).

      Any attempt China made to defend itself was met with more suspicion. They invited a UN delegation which was blocked by the US. The delegation eventually made it there, but three years later. The Arab League also visited Xinjiang and actually commended China on their policies — aimed at reducing terrorism through education and social integration, not through bombing like we tend to do in the West.