Congressional Commission Asks NBA to Stop Sale of Goods Made With Forced Labor From China

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, center right, dunks as New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson, center left, defends during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference playoff semifinal in Miami on May 8, 2023. Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

A bipartisan congressional commission has called on the NBA to end the use and sale of goods made by Chinese sportswear firms that involve the use of forced labor.

With the NBA’s 2023-2024 season set to begin, “we write to you seeking answers about the NBA’s business operations relating to the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” said a Sept. 28 letter from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). The CECC called for the prohibition of the “use or sale of NBA-branded gear and garments, or NBA game-day shoes made with forced labor or made by sportswear companies that endorse the use of materials from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).”

The letter raised concerns about Chinese sportswear companies like Li-Ning, ANTA, and Peak, which it pointed out carry contracts with “a growing number of NBA players.” These firms “publicly embrace the use of supply chains linked to forced labor that helps fund the genocide committed in the XUAR,” it said.

“Our Commission has urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop all imports from these companies to protect American consumers,” the letter said.

Jose Alvarado from the New Orleans Pelicans signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Peak this year. Los Angeles Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell and Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler have signed deals with Li Ning. Meanwhile, ANTA snapped up Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson and Charlotte Hornets’ Gordon Hayward.

CECC asked the NBA to meet with Chinese dissidents like Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, and others before the upcoming season begins on Oct. 24 to understand the repression they face in the United States from Chinese agents.

The letter asked the NBA to respond to specific questions about its relationship with China, including:

• How the NBA upholds UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights when dealing with China.
• Whether the NBA will “publicly support or continue to silence members of the NBA family for their criticism of the PRC.”
• Examples of NBA activities in the Chinese market that helped to “uphold or improve” human rights.
• Whether NBA players, coaches, and owners taking part in cultural exchanges in China receive “explicit instructions from the Chinese government on what is permitted to be discussed.”
• Whether the NBA has an existing policy on forced labor and how it is enforced.
• Details regarding any special financial incentives or packages the NBA receives from PRC entities.

Members of the NBA often exercise their freedom of speech and talk about various political and social issues around the world with the support of the association, the letter stated.

However, NBA executives and players do not receive support from the organization when they have expressed views about China “on several occasions,” it noted.

“Although the NBA prides itself on exporting American values to the PRC, the muzzling of those who criticize the PRC’s egregious human rights abuses shows that instead, the NBA puts itself at risk of enabling the PRC’s export of censorship to the United States.”

Violations in Xinjiang

Xinjiang, located in northwest China, is home to 25 million people, where Uyghur and other ethnic minorities reside.

Tourists and shoppers walk by a Li-Ning store, a Chinese sportswear brand, at a shopping district in Beijing on April 16, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is known to arbitrarily detain citizens in Xinjiang at re-education and forced labor facilities, which are all done under the guise of “anti-extremism” and “anti-terror” operations.

An August 2022 report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights asked China to take “prompt steps” to release “all individuals arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in XUAR,” including at “Vocational Education and Training Centres” (VETC), prisons, and other detention facilities.

It asked for a prompt investigation into “allegations of human rights violations in VETCs and other detention facilities, including allegations of torture, sexual violence, ill-treatment, forced medical treatment, as well as forced labor and reports of deaths in custody.”

In December 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Until August this year, 24 companies have been sanctioned under the law.

A February 2022 report from the think tank Atlantic Council recommended that all companies operating in the Uyghur region should be presumed to be “engaged in forced labor and carry risk of complicity in the ongoing genocide.”

Basketball’s Ties With China

In addition to the NBA, the CECC also sent a letter to the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) on Sept. 28, highlighting its “potential complicity” in China’s use of forced labor in XUAR. NBPA is the labor union representing NBA players.

The CECC pointed out that products from Chinese sportswear companies are “likely made with forced labor” as China heavily relies on the XUAR region to procure materials like cotton, rayon, and other synthetic fibers.

Security guards stand at the gates of what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Huocheng County in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China on Sept. 3, 2018. Thomas Peter/Reuters

“NBA players should not be subsidizing genocide by endorsing or wearing shoes and gear from Chinese sportswear companies complicit in forced labor.”

In 2021, the CECC wrote to NBPA, asking them to raise awareness about genocide and forced labor in XUAR and its connection to Chinese brands like Peak, Li-Ning, ANTA, and others. However, the “response at that time was extremely disappointing.”

The CECC asked the NBPA to provide information about the steps it has taken to educate NBA players about the risks of endorsing Chinese sportswear firms; whether NBA players profit from endorsements with Chinese sportswear firms; and whether the organization will prohibit players from endorsing companies with ties to XUAR.

The letter also highlighted the testimony given by NBA veteran Enes Kanter Freedom to the commission on July 11. In the testimony, Mr. Freedom said that the NBPA pressured him to stop criticizing the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses.

“Mr. Freedom ultimately lost his NBA career after exercising his freedom of expression. His release—ending an 11-year NBA career—was one of the most high-profile cases showcasing the NBA’s acquiescence to the PRC’s demands that criticism of it be silenced,” the letter said.

During his testimony, Mr. Freedom revealed that after he wore shoes featuring the slogan “Free Tibet” during a game, the NBPA called him and said: “The NBA is pressuring us so much. You can never wear those shoes ever again.”

“The NBPA told [me] that if I didn’t stop, they will change the rules so that no player can put any kind of message on their shoes ever again,” he said at the testimony.

“I couldn’t believe how much they were pressuring me because I paid thousands of dollars to the players association every month to protect my rights against the NBA, but on this topic they were on NBA’s side.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the NBA for comment.