US urges China to release activists in Trump probe
June 6, 2017
Two Chinese nationals have disappeared after investigating factories producing shoes for Ivanka Trump's brand. Activists have urged the US president's daughter to "avoid being the beneficiary of unseemly favors."
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The US State Department on Monday urged China to immediately release three Chinese activists involved in an investigation into labor rights violations at factories that produce shoes for Ivanka Trump's brand.
"We are concerned by reports that Chinese authorities have detained labor rights activists Hua Haifeng, and that two other labor activists - Su Heng and Li Zhao - are also missing and presumed to be detained," said state department spokeswoman Alicia Edwards.
From rich kid to runway model to first daughter and now offical White House employee - Ivanka Trump's life has been all but conventional. Here are some pictures of her unorthodox trajectory.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J. Szenes
Child of divorce
12-year-old Ivanka Trump and her father, business magnate Donald Trump, peek over the crowd at the U.S. Open in New York, 1994. Ivanka Marie Trump was born in 1981 as the second child of Czech-American model Ivana Trump and Donald. Her parents divorced when she was 10 years old.
Image: picture alliance/ASSOCIATED PRESS/R. Frehm
Patchwork family
Ivanka Trump, holding her younger half-sister Tiffany, takes a picture with Donald Trump and his second wife Marla on her father's 50th birthday. Ivanka is one of four siblings.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Savignano
Teenage model
16-year-old Ivanka Trump closes Thierry Mugler's haute couture show in Paris, 1997. Trump started modeling at the early age of 15 for Mugler and the likes of Versace and Paco Rabanne.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Seeking a role model
Teenage Ivanka Trump looks at her father, the multi-billionaire Donald Trump, at a polo club in Bridgehampton, New York, 1997.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ipol Grant
Multi-million business woman
Ivanka Trump speaks during the Ivanka Trump Collection runway launch in New York in 2012. Trump made a name for herself with her own multi-million-dollar businesses. She has sold everything from diaper bags and baby shoes to clothing and jewelry.
Image: picture alliance/abaca/D. Van Tine
Partners in crime
Ivanka und Donald Trump laugh at the Trump Tower Mall opening in Istanbul, 2012. Ivanka joined the family business in 2005 and, together with her two brothers Donald Jr. and Eric, has been acting as executive vice-president of the Trump Organization. She announced she would be taking a formal leave of absence from both the Trump Organization after her father took office.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/T. Bozoglu
Family life
Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner step off of Air Force One with their children as they arrive in West Palm Beach, 2017. Trump and Kushner got married in 2009 and have three children together.
Image: picture alliance/AP Images/W. Lee
Leading role in Trump campaign
Ivanka Trump addresses supporters of her father's campaign in South Carolina, 2016. She had a central role in Donald Trump's campaign and has been regarded as a mobilizer for female voters in support of Trump.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/A. Sanz
Way into the White House
Ivanka Trump und German Chancellor Angela Merkel whisper during a roundtable discussion in the Cabinet Room of the White House in March 2017. Last week the president's daughter came under fire for announcing she would become an advisor, without a specific title, but with an office in the White House.
Following criticism from ethics experts of her informal role in the White House, Ivanka Trump announced on Wednesday, she will become an official government employee. Her work as a presidential family member taking office in the White House, alongside her husband, continues to raise eyebrows.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J. Szenes
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Edwards noted that labor activists have helped US companies understand working conditions in their supply chain in China, "which can be essential in fulfilling their own responsibilities and holding Chinese manufacturers accountable under Chinese labor laws."
According to New York-based advocacy group China Labor Watch, one activist was arrested by Chinese authorities while two others went missing last month. The three activists managed to work covertly at factories while they investigated abuses.
Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, said the group plans to publish a report alleging excessive overtime, low pay and possible misuse of student labor.
Workers at the factories that produce shoes for the brand of the US president's daughter received less than $1 (0.89 euros) per hour and worked shifts as long as 18 hours, said a report published last month by China Labor Watch.
'Unseemly favors'?
Given the business interests held by Ivanka, who works at the White House as an unpaid adviser, US media, advocacy groups and political activists have called on her to legally separate herself from her business to avoid conflict of interest with her government role.
In an op-ed published by The Washington Post, its editorial board called on Ivanka to either recuse herself from all government business involving China or divest her interest in her company to "avoid being the beneficiary of unseemly favors."
"If she does neither, it will be reasonable to ask whether sweatshop labor and political repression are now part of the fabric of US-China relations," the editorial said.
The White House, Ivanka Trump's brand and her lawyer have declined to comment on the missing activists. However, Marc Fisher Footwear, which produces shoes for Ivanka Trump along with other brands, said it would look into the allegations of labor rights violations.