USALI non-resident affiliated scholar Aaron Halegua spoke to Reuters about reports that Chinese workers who traveled to northeast Brazil to build a new factory for Chinese electric car maker BYD were subjected to abusive conditions.

Halegua, a lawyer who won compensation for Chinese workers subjected to forced labor in Saipan, said the contracts of the workers who went to Brazil contained “textbook red flags of forced labor” such as requiring them to pay a performance bond. Such terms are illegal in China, he said. Read more.