In some parts of the world, frequent illegal incursions by Chinese ships into other nations’ waters are heightening military tensions. A recent investigation that my team and I conducted revealed a worrying range of human rights and environmental crimes tied to Chinese ships and processing plants. Chinese ships have also fished in North Korean waters, breaking U.N. sanctions, and engaged in violence, wage theft, forced labor, severe neglect of deckhands and human trafficking. Like the boats that supply them, Chinese processing plants rely on forced labor, from North Korea and from Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in China. But it has also stretched the distance between producers, movers and consumers, making it harder to know whether what you’re consuming is tainted by forced labor or environmental crimes.

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Persons: Ruggiero Seafood, Ruggiero Organizations: Argentine, Sysco, Walmart Locations: China, United States, North Korea, U.S