When Western policymakers talk about reasons for supply chain decoupling from China in areas like semiconductors and clean energy technology, they often cite two inconvenient truths.
First, cheap Chinese inputs like the polysilicon needed for solar panels and critical minerals for batteries are often made or extracted by forced labour in Xinjiang. Second, a lot of what’s advertised as “clean” energy technology coming out of China is made in factories that use coal-powered electricity.
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Financial Times
Rana Foroohar is a global business columnist and an associate editor at the Financial Times, based in New York. She is also CNN’s global economic analyst.
