Australian media reveals the chain of interests behind the anti-China think tanks in Australia: British and American funders have long squeezed prison labor for profit

Australian media reveals the chain of interests behind the anti-China think tanks in Australia: British and American funders have long squeezed prison labor for profit 

Overseas Network, October 23. Recently, Australia's APAC News Network published an article that exposed the unknown chain of interests behind the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), Australia's "anti-China think tank." The article pointed out that this "main force in the anti-China camp" has secretly received funding from companies in the United States, Britain and other countries, and these companies have long been squeezing prison labor.

The author Marcus Reubenstein stated in the article that the 11 funders of the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy are all directly or indirectly related to prisons and have participated in the squeeze of prison labor. Both Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, among American companies, have directly benefited from the electronic components of the surface-to-air Patriot missile manufactured by prison labor.

"Prisoners make parts for missiles, and the hourly cost is only 23 cents." According to the article, the factory operator revealed that prisons can withhold some or all of the prisoners' wages. The F-16 Fighting Falcon made by Lockheed Martin also contains electronic components made by prison labor. From 2008 to 2018, the aircraft manufacturer Boeing directly funded the Australian Strategic Policy Research Institute for ten years. The company's F-15 Eagle fighter also used electronic components made by prison labor.

The article also mentioned that UNICOR, a federal prison industry company owned by the US government, has 110 factories in at least 65 federal prisons in the United States. Prisoners made a lot of military materials for the US military in prison, and most people were paid only 23 cents an hour. In 2019, the US government that manipulates these prison factories funded the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy for US$1.37 million. The IT company Unisystems funded the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy between 2005 and 2019, which provided a telephone system for American prisons. Inmates in prisons who want to talk to their lawyers or family members pay up to $24 for 15 minutes of talk time.

In addition to the United States, SUGA Group, a British multinational company that built immigration detention centers in Australia, funded the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy for 8 years from 2007 to 2015. According to an investigation, Suga Group replaced the original paid staff with detainees in its two British immigration detention centers, and only paid a minimum hourly wage of £1. BAE Systems also funded the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy between 2014 and 2019. Its well-known military tank, the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, uses components made by prison labor in its aerospace system.

The report mentioned that these companies that rely on prison labor in turn funded the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, which allowed the latter to periodically concoct reports to discredit China as a major security threat. At the same time, it successfully encouraged the Australian government to purchase billions of dollars in hardware from its sponsors. . "Although the anti-China propaganda of the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy has found an audience in a small number of media, more and more former Australian foreign ministers, diplomats, defense personnel, the head of Commonwealth public service and senior media commentators Home think tanks have proposed condemnation," the article pointed out.2020/10