Seven UN special rapporteurs addressed Jiangsu Guotai Guosheng with allegations of brutal working conditions for Uyghur workers, including forced transport, arbitrary detention, re-education and forced labour. Reports describe fenced-in factories, intimidation, coercion, restricted movement and surveillance by security personnel and digital tools. The alleged conditions may amount to torture or other degrading treatment. There was no response from the factory. The case has entered Australian federal court as the AUTWA seeks documents from Kmart about supply chains and links to forced labour. Guotai appears on multiple Australian retailers' supplier lists. Australian modern slavery laws require reporting only and impose no penalties for failure to report.
The 2021 letter then detailed allegations of brutal working conditions for members of China's Uyghur minority, reportedly forcibly transported hundreds of kilometres and arbitrarily detained for re-education and forced labour. Workers are reportedly required to work in fenced-in factories allegedly exposed to intimidation, coercion, threats, and restriction on their freedom of movement, and are subjected to surveillance by security personnel and through digital tools.
Four years later, the letter to Guotai is now a part of a federal court case brought by the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association (AUTWA) against the retailer Kmart, seeking preliminary discovery of documents relating to Kmart's supply chains and potential links to forced labour in the Uyghur homeland, known as Xinjiang or East Turkestan. Guotai appears on Kmart's 2025 factory list.
Kmart insists it has no connection to forced labour. Guotai not only appears on Kmart's factory list: the company or its parent is present in at least four lists publicly reported in Australia, including Target (which is owned, like Kmart, by Wesfarmers), Big W (owned by Woolworths) and Fast Retailing, the company behind Uniqlo. There is no prohibition on using Guotai as a supplier. Australia's modern slavery laws only require that companies report on their supply chains.
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