Published by: World Tibet Network News, Monday, July 15, 1996

July 15, 1996

The Seattle Times

by Liz Szabo

Seattle Times business reporter

Bucking the trend in Washington state, which trades heavily with China, one small local company has taken a stand on human rights by ending all commerce with that nation.

Puget Consumers Co-op has become one of a handful of companies in the country to boycott all Chinese goods.

Members of PCC, a chain of seven natural-food markets in Seattle, voted last month to stop buying goods from China until that country ends its occupation of Tibet. Tibetan supporters now plan to lobby other member-owned cooperatives to halt their China trade, said Kunzang Yuthok, director of the Tibetan Rights Campaign.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to extend China's most-favored-nation status, a benefit for the United States' chief trading partners that reduces tariffs on imported goods. The U.S. did $11 billion in trade with China in 1995, and Washington led all other states.

More than 100 civic groups, churches and other organizations, including the AFL-CIO, have pledged to boycott China, Yuthok said.

One of the most prominent companies to curtail trade with China is Levi Strauss, which closed its factories there in 1993. Levi Strauss pulled out of China after labor activists raised concerns about working conditions in Chinese sweatshops.

PCC, which is owned by its members and periodically votes on consumer issues, could lose up to $100,000 of its $50 million in annual sales, spokeswoman Theresa Staig estimated. The retail chain is now analyzing its inventory to assess the extent of losses and plan for substitutions.

PCC stores will continue to sell Chinese items now in stock but will not order any new products. PCC buys a relatively small number of items from China, primarily ginseng, oolong tea, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. The store will not buy anything that uses Chinese products as its main ingredient or that is made in China.

PCC has 40,000 members. Seven percent voted in the most recent election, Staig said.

The Chinese have killed 1.2 million Tibetans since the 1949 invasion, Yuthok said, and are attempting to extinguish Tibetan culture by resettling Tibet with Chinese. China also has suppressed Tibetan Buddhism and outlawed photographs of the Dalai Lama, Buddhists' spiritual leader.

PCC has led similar boycotts in the past, usually for causes relating to human rights, the environment and labor. PCC refused to sell General Electric light bulbs from 1984 to 1993 because of that company's production of military weapons, Staig said. The co-op also does not buy tuna from companies whose fishing practices kill dolphins.

In another consumer campaign earlier this year, PCC mounted signs alerting customers to a union dispute between workers and management at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery but did not pull the wines from its shelves. PCC withdrew the signs once a contract was signed, Staig said.

"Our response (to political issues) most often is to put out signs and brochures and let consumers make up their own minds," Staig said.

Some political activists doubt the boycott will influence Chinese policies.

"Boycotts in general can be effective," said Todd Putnam, president of Seattle-based National Boycott News. "But as for boycotts against China, China doesn't really listen to anybody."

The PCC boycott is minuscule in comparison to the billions of dollars in trade between China and local companies such as Boeing, Microsoft and Eddie Bauer.

But Tibetan human-rights groups laud PCC's decision.

In 1991, human-rights groups began a campaign to persuade consumers to boycott Chinese toys, Putnam said. China manufactures a large number of children's toys sold in the U.S.

The Tibetan Rights Campaign hopes to persuade Recreational Equipment Inc., a Seattle co-op specializing in outdoor equipment and clothing, to join the boycott.

"Even government officials and organizations that sympathize with the Tibetan cause tend to want someone else to go first, and fear anything they might perceive as a competitive disadvantage," Yuthok said. "In fact, like (selling only) dolphin-safe tuna, doing the right thing usually turns out to be the smart thing as well."

REI receives some of its down garments from a Chinese clothing factory under its supervision, company spokesman Michael Collins said. Trade with China represents a significant portion of REI's $447 million a year in sales, and the company has no plans to close its Chinese factory or turn away Chinese sales. REI has 1.4 million members in the U.S. and elsewhere.

"We make sure the factories we work with are good factories that follow our guidelines, that the people are adequately paid, that their working conditions are good," Collins said. "Those are things we can control. But in terms of boycotting countries, we are going to leave that up to our members. That's their choice. Our aim is to simply provide them with the best outdoor gear we can provide them."

A number of PCC customers said they support the China boycott.

"Their decision probably makes me more likely to shop here," said Jan Van West, who stopped at PCC during a recent visit from Colorado. "It has made me more aware, and I'm glad there's someone taking a stand on this."