Two of the main concerns of many U.S. citizens regarding trade with China are child labor and working conditions for all Chinese, especially young women. Chinese are used as cheap labor, often forced to work in awful conditions for abnormally long hours. They are often punished cruelly. Many are tortured brutally, some are raped by their employers. The Chinese government acknowledges the use of child labor, and while the exact number of child workers is unknown, the number of minors out of school and in the workforce exceeds by far 10 million young people.
Companies looking for cheap labor attract apprehensive students with promises of money and success.
These children are forced to work in cramped spaces for long hours. Not only do the Chinese practice and allow child labor, slave labor is also common in labor camps throughout China. Chinese citizens are kidnapped, they are forced to work, often without wages or food. These workers, often very young, often 40 of them or more, are forced to stay in makeshift houses of less than 20 square meters, with leaking roofs and rat infestation. If the U.S. allows China to obtain PNTR, then we are accepting the outrageous treatment of laborers in China.