Boycott China

June 1, 2001

Volume 3/ Number 16

Dear Colleague:

How do we let retailers know that we are serious about boycotting Chinese-made goods? Let me tell you what I did . . .

Steven W. Mosher

President

Two Carts at the ‘MartBoycott China

Some time ago, my wife and I decided not to buy goods made in China.

Our decision was prompted by a combination of things. China’s one-child policy was the single biggest factor. We could not simply avert our eyes from the “Made in China” label while millions of women were (and are) being forcibly aborted and sterilized each year by that country’s population control police.

But we were also motivated by other kinds of human rights abuses. The persecution of Christians weighed heavily on our minds. The arrest, torture, and execution of our co-religionists in China led us to vote with our pocketbook against the regime that was carrying out these atrocities.

The use of child labor and political prisoners to manufacture goods for export to the U.S. was also a factor, especially as Christmas approached. How could we buy toys for our own children that might have been made by exhausted 12- and 13-year-olds working long hours in sweatshops? Wouldn’t this make a mockery of the whole meaning of Christmas? And what about the use of prison labor, including imprisoned political dissidents, to make goods for export?

More recently, we were reinvigorated to boycott when the crew of our EP-3 surveillance plane was held hostage for eleven days. The obvious and growing hostility of China’s government towards the United States further underlined for us the foolishness of supporting that regime by our shopping dollars. Eighty-eight billion dollars a year in hard currency (our current trade deficit with the PRC) can buy a lot of weapons, and fund a lot of espionage.

Avoiding the “Made in China” label is not easy, of course. In fact, shopping for anything other than food and major consumer items can be an exercise in frustration. I once went down an entire aisle of dolls at one of the ‘Marts in an ultimately fruitless search for one of non-Chinese origin. They all bore the same infamous label, and I left the store disgusted by the lack of choice.

I have seen others carefully examining labels, muttering “Made in China” in disgust, and then returning the item neatly to the shelf.

I am convinced that retailers are missing billions in sales by not giving us a choice when it comes to, say, tennis shoes. How can we let them know this? How can we let them know that they are sourcing too many goods in the PRC?

Let me tell you what I did.

On our last visit to one of the ‘Marts my wife and I got two shopping carts. Into the first went items made in the U.S. or other countries, into the second, items of Chinese origin.

We wheeled both carts to the check-out counter. We purchased the non-Chinese made goods, and left the other one with the following note:

Dear Store Manager,

My family intended to purchase the items in this cart, but we have discovered that they are made in the People’s Republic of China.

Like many other Americans, we will not buy goods in made in China.

You should ensure that, with every line of goods, you give American consumers a choice. By not doing so, your chain is losing many tens of millions of dollars in sales each year.

Sincerely,

Steve Mosher is the author of Hegmon: China’s Plans to Dominate Asia and the World, available in our On-line bookstore.

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