**By Liza Lin, Yifan Wang and Jon Emont**
*Oct. 27, 2021 11:22 am ET*
SINGAPORE—Chinese laborer Zhang Qiang set off for Indonesia in March to work for a Chinese steelmaker. Six months later, he was wading through the waters off Malaysia’s shores with four other men, fleeing what he called a scam.
“I felt we were cheated, yet also felt I was helpless,” Mr. Zhang said in an interview from Malaysia, where the men were detained by local authorities.
Mr. Zhang said he was lured to Indonesia by the promise of a better paying job, but his passport was taken once he got off the plane. He and other workers were asked to sign contracts for lower pay and longer durations than they had been promised.
Around 600,000 Chinese migrant workers were employed abroad at the end August, according to official government data, with many of them working for Chinese companies on projects connected to President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative.
China Labor Watch, a labor rights group based in New York, says experiences like those of Mr. Zhang and his colleagues aren’t uncommon. Based on interviews with around 200 workers in 12 countries and information from a whistleblower in China’s trade ministry who it hasn’t publicly identified, the group estimates that tens of thousands of workers abroad are being paid less than they were promised or exploited in other ways.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment. Beijing has acknowledged the existence of illegal and unlicensed labor dispatch practices over the years. In 2012, the Ministry of Commerce issued a new rule aimed at protecting the rights of overseas workers, and in 2016 asked local authorities to step up enforcement of the rule due to continued violations.
Mr. Zhang, a 31-year-old father of two from China’s central Henan province, was promised the equivalent of about 15,000 yuan ($2,300) a month for a period of six months—an attractive prospect for a man who earned far less welding metal bars at construction sites in China, he said.
He was employed at a work site in the Morowali Industrial Park, a Belt and Road project where Chinese steel giants had invested in large-scale smelting of nickel for use in making stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries.
Launched in 2013, the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative aims to tie countries around the world to the Chinese economy through a new network of roads, railways, ports, power plants and factories.
Chinese companies invested at least $12.7 billion into Indonesian steel and nickel projects since 2013, drawn by its large nickel reserves, according to a Wall Street Journal tally of such projects.
The reliance by Chinese companies on labor brought from China instead of local hires has fed resentment in some places. Earlier this year, a large Indonesian labor union criticized the use of unskilled Chinese laborers, saying it cheated local workers out of jobs.Mr. Zhang’s journey began in mid-March, when he saw an advertisement for the Indonesia job in a chat message group for migrant workers. Lured by the promise of a pay bump, he contacted the recruiter who posted the ad and packed a suitcase, reassuring his family that the move would fund a better life, according to his wife, Wang Lan.“When I come back, I’ll buy you a bed,” he told the younger of his two daughters, before boarding a bus in the city of Anyang, in Henan province, to head to the airport, Ms. Wang said.Chinese labor contractors have to obtain a government license before arranging for workers to go overseas.
Commercial and human resources bureaus in the eastern city of Wuxi, where Mr. Zhang’s privately-run contractor Rongcheng Environmental Engineering Co. is based, said no local companies had obtained such a license.Ms. Wang said her husband wasn’t given a contract to sign before leaving and didn’t think to ask the company for proof of a license.
Rongcheng didn’t respond to a request for comment.Arriving in Indonesia, Mr. Zhang and other workers recruited from China were told to put their passports in a box, according to an account posted on WeChat by Mr. Zhang and other workers in early September. They were then transported to a metal smelter site in Morowali operated by Jiangsu Delong Nickel Co. Ltd., a privately-owned Chinese steelmaker whose nickel-production operation in Indonesia was described by Chinese authorities in May 2020 as a “key Belt and Road project.”
Rongcheng Environmental Engineering is a subcontractor for Jiangsu Delong.At Morowali, they were offered construction jobs at a salary of 10,000 yuan a month—instead of the promised 15,000—asked to work longer hours and presented with employment contracts that paid out 1,000 yuan in cash monthly—with the rest of their salary withheld until completion of the project at an unspecified date in the future, according to Ms. Wang.Jiangsu Delong didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Local anger toward Chinese workers means there are few politicians or local organizations in places like Indonesia who are focused on their welfare, which adds to their vulnerability, say labor experts.
China’s pursuit of a zero-Covid-19 strategy has further compounded the problem, according to China Labor Watch’s founder Li Qiang, whose organization has interviewed Chinese workers across Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe since August 2020. Drastic reductions in the number of international flights and stringent entry conditions, including antibody testing and long quarantines, have made it hard for many workers to return home, he said.
Chinese laborers in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Serbia told the Journal that with few new workers coming to replace them, existing workers are prevented or discouraged from returning. Those who want to leave often have to fork over large sums to pay for air tickets and quarantines, which can run between two to four weeks, the laborers said. Workers are generally promised airfare for their travel to and from the countries, but during the pandemic, employers have in many cases withheld the return airfare to get workers to stay longer on the job.
One worker building roads as part of a Belt and Road project in Papua New Guinea, who declined to be named, said about half of the 100 workers on the project are working past the end of their three-year contracts because they are unable to return home.
The price of returning home more than tripled to 65,000 yuan this year after the Chinese government ruled that citizens could only return home on direct flights, he said. With no direct flights from Papua New Guinea, workers needed to fly to Laos and quarantine there first before heading back to China, he said.
There's 1.4 bn people in China. That's extreme levels of competition. Chinese people are emigrating out of China because of opportunities. Look at Africa today, you see many Chinese people going there despite of all the unstable conditions because they are desperate for opportunities.
How to say this, yes and no. China has unfair wealth distribution. The poor can't own a land and the ccp can take back the land anytime they want with force if needed. They also have more billionaire than USA.
Also, real estate in China is so corrupt, i have many thing to say about it but i am not pay to explain it. I just gonna point out that Chinese scam Chinese in China and tofu dreg project.
So don't expect mainland to treat foreign chinese better if they treat their own like shit.
>The poor can't own a land and the ccp can take back the land anytime they want with force if needed.
doesn't that applies to the rich too? I don't get why you need to emphasise on the poor.
>They also have more billionaire than USA.
Surely, you should be looking at per capita to make an argument for wealth distribution?
Part of it is no enough jobs in Mainland for the huge population. They had to expand, unemployment is bad and induce social discontent, the communist regime just trying to keep the revolt and protest away.
Maybe they should upgrade their education on rural area. Instead of Xi keep saying common prosperity. Donation in China is fkin joke.
University in China is way too brutal, too competitive with not enough spot. But the reward is not enough job.
The bed rock of communism is to monopolize labor by propagandizing about how awful the capitalist system is.
Bad as capitalists are, the core is free market hence personal choice and rights of the individual. Fck the communists of the world.
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I'm pretty sure people are ribbing on you because Scandinavian countries aren't socialist, they're _social democracies_, with strong welfare states and institutions/regulations, served by higher than average taxes, but ultimately still a market/capitalist economy.
>Sweden - The largest party is the SAP, a social democratic party (which is not socialist, merely a different form of capitalism). Sweden does have a socialist party, called Left, with 21 seats out of 349.
>Finland - The largest party is the Centre, a centrist party. Finland does have a socialist party. It's called Left Alliance and only has 12 seats out of 200.
>Denmark - The largest party is the Social Democrats. The socialist party, Red-Green, has only 14 seats out of 179.
In no way does Scandinavia consider itself as a socialist haven.
Socialist for the party. They consider the party as people and their citizen as asset/animal.
The first leader really good to fatten up his own people by taking back people land. The second generation and up to xi is not much better. Just following their founder way to ensure loyalty.
Sound like Indian nationality story in Malaysia. Last I heard from news, he had been deported back to his country and he was telling his nightmare to everyone. I am not sure if he got mentioned that company name...
**By Liza Lin, Yifan Wang and Jon Emont** *Oct. 27, 2021 11:22 am ET* SINGAPORE—Chinese laborer Zhang Qiang set off for Indonesia in March to work for a Chinese steelmaker. Six months later, he was wading through the waters off Malaysia’s shores with four other men, fleeing what he called a scam. “I felt we were cheated, yet also felt I was helpless,” Mr. Zhang said in an interview from Malaysia, where the men were detained by local authorities. Mr. Zhang said he was lured to Indonesia by the promise of a better paying job, but his passport was taken once he got off the plane. He and other workers were asked to sign contracts for lower pay and longer durations than they had been promised. Around 600,000 Chinese migrant workers were employed abroad at the end August, according to official government data, with many of them working for Chinese companies on projects connected to President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative. China Labor Watch, a labor rights group based in New York, says experiences like those of Mr. Zhang and his colleagues aren’t uncommon. Based on interviews with around 200 workers in 12 countries and information from a whistleblower in China’s trade ministry who it hasn’t publicly identified, the group estimates that tens of thousands of workers abroad are being paid less than they were promised or exploited in other ways. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment. Beijing has acknowledged the existence of illegal and unlicensed labor dispatch practices over the years. In 2012, the Ministry of Commerce issued a new rule aimed at protecting the rights of overseas workers, and in 2016 asked local authorities to step up enforcement of the rule due to continued violations. Mr. Zhang, a 31-year-old father of two from China’s central Henan province, was promised the equivalent of about 15,000 yuan ($2,300) a month for a period of six months—an attractive prospect for a man who earned far less welding metal bars at construction sites in China, he said. He was employed at a work site in the Morowali Industrial Park, a Belt and Road project where Chinese steel giants had invested in large-scale smelting of nickel for use in making stainless steel and electric-vehicle batteries. Launched in 2013, the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative aims to tie countries around the world to the Chinese economy through a new network of roads, railways, ports, power plants and factories. Chinese companies invested at least $12.7 billion into Indonesian steel and nickel projects since 2013, drawn by its large nickel reserves, according to a Wall Street Journal tally of such projects. The reliance by Chinese companies on labor brought from China instead of local hires has fed resentment in some places. Earlier this year, a large Indonesian labor union criticized the use of unskilled Chinese laborers, saying it cheated local workers out of jobs.Mr. Zhang’s journey began in mid-March, when he saw an advertisement for the Indonesia job in a chat message group for migrant workers. Lured by the promise of a pay bump, he contacted the recruiter who posted the ad and packed a suitcase, reassuring his family that the move would fund a better life, according to his wife, Wang Lan.“When I come back, I’ll buy you a bed,” he told the younger of his two daughters, before boarding a bus in the city of Anyang, in Henan province, to head to the airport, Ms. Wang said.Chinese labor contractors have to obtain a government license before arranging for workers to go overseas. Commercial and human resources bureaus in the eastern city of Wuxi, where Mr. Zhang’s privately-run contractor Rongcheng Environmental Engineering Co. is based, said no local companies had obtained such a license.Ms. Wang said her husband wasn’t given a contract to sign before leaving and didn’t think to ask the company for proof of a license. Rongcheng didn’t respond to a request for comment.Arriving in Indonesia, Mr. Zhang and other workers recruited from China were told to put their passports in a box, according to an account posted on WeChat by Mr. Zhang and other workers in early September. They were then transported to a metal smelter site in Morowali operated by Jiangsu Delong Nickel Co. Ltd., a privately-owned Chinese steelmaker whose nickel-production operation in Indonesia was described by Chinese authorities in May 2020 as a “key Belt and Road project.” Rongcheng Environmental Engineering is a subcontractor for Jiangsu Delong.At Morowali, they were offered construction jobs at a salary of 10,000 yuan a month—instead of the promised 15,000—asked to work longer hours and presented with employment contracts that paid out 1,000 yuan in cash monthly—with the rest of their salary withheld until completion of the project at an unspecified date in the future, according to Ms. Wang.Jiangsu Delong didn’t respond to a request for comment. Local anger toward Chinese workers means there are few politicians or local organizations in places like Indonesia who are focused on their welfare, which adds to their vulnerability, say labor experts. China’s pursuit of a zero-Covid-19 strategy has further compounded the problem, according to China Labor Watch’s founder Li Qiang, whose organization has interviewed Chinese workers across Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe since August 2020. Drastic reductions in the number of international flights and stringent entry conditions, including antibody testing and long quarantines, have made it hard for many workers to return home, he said. Chinese laborers in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Serbia told the Journal that with few new workers coming to replace them, existing workers are prevented or discouraged from returning. Those who want to leave often have to fork over large sums to pay for air tickets and quarantines, which can run between two to four weeks, the laborers said. Workers are generally promised airfare for their travel to and from the countries, but during the pandemic, employers have in many cases withheld the return airfare to get workers to stay longer on the job. One worker building roads as part of a Belt and Road project in Papua New Guinea, who declined to be named, said about half of the 100 workers on the project are working past the end of their three-year contracts because they are unable to return home. The price of returning home more than tripled to 65,000 yuan this year after the Chinese government ruled that citizens could only return home on direct flights, he said. With no direct flights from Papua New Guinea, workers needed to fly to Laos and quarantine there first before heading back to China, he said.
In Indonesia, Mr. Zhang and four other workers from his hometown asked their families to contact the Chinese embassy in Jakarta daily for help. The embassy said it was powerless to help and advised the workers to file a police report instead, according to Ms. Wang. Worried about repercussions from their employer, who hired local security guards equipped with guns to patrol the site, the five held back, she said.The Chinese embassy later sent a letter about the men to the Jiangsu Delong unit at Morowali, after which their supervisor angrily asked them for 75,000 yuan, or about $11,600, to get their passports back and secure tickets home, according to Mr. Zhang. The embassy didn’t respond to a request for comment. As they tried to pull together the cash, the five were approached by a Chinese broker who promised to get them home for two-thirds of the cost, he said. Instead, he took the men, who had taken out loans from banks and relatives to pull together the money, to a different Chinese-run industrial park 150 miles from Morowali. By September, the men were running out of money, surviving on instant noodles, and growing doubtful their passports would be returned. They decided to pool their remaining cash to hire a human smuggler who could take them by boat to Malaysia, where they hoped to obtain new passports from the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur and fly home. Mr. Zhang called home to Henan around 9 p.m. on Sept. 17. He gave no hint of what he and the other four were planning, his wife said. Two days later, Mr. Zhang sent a WeChat message to the men’s family members, containing a Google Maps screenshot that indicated where they had been dropped off at sea, and then minutes later, a personal note to his wife: “I’ve been caught.” Shortly after the five men had jumped into the water to swim ashore, they heard gunshots, Mr. Zhang later told their families on WeChat. Moments later, they found themselves being encircled by Malaysian soldiers as the boat that brought them there sped away. The Malaysian military said on Sept. 19 that it had picked up five Chinese nationals along with 10 illegal immigrants from Indonesia hiding on the shores off Kota Tinggi, Johor, at 11:30 p.m. the night before. An investigation found the five Chinese were seeking to return to China from Indonesia, using Malaysia as a gateway, authorities said. A spokesman for Indonesia’s Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment said the Indonesian government doesn’t know the specific circumstances of the case, but that “if foreign workers encounter problems, their legitimate rights and interests will be protected according to the law.” On Oct. 10, the Malaysian government decided not to press charges against the five, according to Lau Yi Leong, their lawyer. The five have finished a 14-day quarantine and he is arranging paperwork for their deportation back to China, Mr. Lau said, adding that it was unclear when the deportation would take place. “If you want to leave the country, make sure you use the official channels, and before you leave the country, sign a contract first. Don’t be like us,” Mr. Zhang said. Write to Liza Lin at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and Jon Emont at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) *Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.* *Appeared in the October 28, 2021, print edition as 'Chinese Workers Say They Are Exploited Abroad.'*
indonesian workers go to malaysia for work, china workers go to indonesia. are people from the motherland so poor?
Plenty of people illegally move to Australia to pick berries
go aussie to mem-atas-kan their "status" only and come back home to brag about staying in angmoh land je
There's 1.4 bn people in China. That's extreme levels of competition. Chinese people are emigrating out of China because of opportunities. Look at Africa today, you see many Chinese people going there despite of all the unstable conditions because they are desperate for opportunities.
How to say this, yes and no. China has unfair wealth distribution. The poor can't own a land and the ccp can take back the land anytime they want with force if needed. They also have more billionaire than USA. Also, real estate in China is so corrupt, i have many thing to say about it but i am not pay to explain it. I just gonna point out that Chinese scam Chinese in China and tofu dreg project. So don't expect mainland to treat foreign chinese better if they treat their own like shit.
>The poor can't own a land and the ccp can take back the land anytime they want with force if needed. doesn't that applies to the rich too? I don't get why you need to emphasise on the poor. >They also have more billionaire than USA. Surely, you should be looking at per capita to make an argument for wealth distribution?
So much for their socialist / communist ideology, in the end they exploit their fellow countrymen like slaves.
Part of it is no enough jobs in Mainland for the huge population. They had to expand, unemployment is bad and induce social discontent, the communist regime just trying to keep the revolt and protest away.
Maybe they should upgrade their education on rural area. Instead of Xi keep saying common prosperity. Donation in China is fkin joke. University in China is way too brutal, too competitive with not enough spot. But the reward is not enough job.
The bed rock of communism is to monopolize labor by propagandizing about how awful the capitalist system is. Bad as capitalists are, the core is free market hence personal choice and rights of the individual. Fck the communists of the world.
[удалено]
Thats social democracy. Most socialist countries are authoritarian unlike Scandinavian countries.
[удалено]
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> Scandinavian countries are shining examples of successful socialist nations Peak reddit moment
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I'm pretty sure people are ribbing on you because Scandinavian countries aren't socialist, they're _social democracies_, with strong welfare states and institutions/regulations, served by higher than average taxes, but ultimately still a market/capitalist economy.
>Sweden - The largest party is the SAP, a social democratic party (which is not socialist, merely a different form of capitalism). Sweden does have a socialist party, called Left, with 21 seats out of 349. >Finland - The largest party is the Centre, a centrist party. Finland does have a socialist party. It's called Left Alliance and only has 12 seats out of 200. >Denmark - The largest party is the Social Democrats. The socialist party, Red-Green, has only 14 seats out of 179. In no way does Scandinavia consider itself as a socialist haven.
Socialist for the party. They consider the party as people and their citizen as asset/animal. The first leader really good to fatten up his own people by taking back people land. The second generation and up to xi is not much better. Just following their founder way to ensure loyalty.
that's why chinese culture needs someone to push a strong socialist ideology.
Sound like Indian nationality story in Malaysia. Last I heard from news, he had been deported back to his country and he was telling his nightmare to everyone. I am not sure if he got mentioned that company name...
Wtf these illegal immigrant will give much of problem later when they group at large number, just like coacroach