Two journalists of China Business News have been sued by a subsidiary factory of Taiwan-based Foxconn for their reports about labour rights violations in the factory in Shenzhen. The company is claiming 30 million yuan in compensation from the journalists for alleged defamation.

Hongfujin Precision Industry, the Shenzhen subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn), is suing reporter Wang You and her editorial supervisor Weng Bao over the reports. According to media reports, it is believed to be the largest defamation lawsuit filed in mainland China.

On 15 June, the two journalists were the first in mainland China to report about the Foxconn factory's staff working overtime on a regular basis. A few days earlier, Britain's Mail on Sunday on 11 June first reported about the labour conditions in the factory, saying the workers in the factory were poorly paid and not allowed access to outsiders.

Hongfujin Precision obtained a court order last month from the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court to freeze the two reporters' assets. Weng said he had been under pressure both mentally and financially since his assets were frozen, but he said he was "more worried about whether we are allowed to do our jobs freely", according to the South China Morning Post.

According to a statement issued by China Business News on 28 August, the management stood by the two journalists, saying the report complied with the newspaper's editorial policy of pursuing truth and social justice backed up by facts, the SCMP reported.

The SCMP also quoted a spokesman for the China Business News, Yang Baiguo, as criticising the freezing of the reporters' assets. Yang said the paper was also considering lodging a lawsuit on behalf of the reporters. "We are fully behind our reporters and will do whatever it takes to defend them," he told the SCMP.

In early July, Guo Taiming, president of Hon Hai Group, the parent company of Foxconn, denied the Mail on Sunday's report about Foxconn's mistreatment of Chinese workers, according to ChinaCSR.com.

On 17 August, Apple Computer Inc. released the findings of its audit team's investigation of the Foxconn factory. It found that the workers' weekly working hours exceeded 35 per cent of the time limit set in the computer firm's supplier code of conduct. The workers were also forced to work more than six consecutive days a quarter of the time.

Sources: South China Morning Post (29 August 2006), ChinaCSR.com (29 August 2006)

China Business News's website: www.china-cbn.com

29 August 2006