SHANGHAI — The arrest and disappearance of three labor activists investigating a Chinese company that produces Ivanka Trump-branded shoes in China prompted a call for her brand to cease working with the supplier and raised questions about whether the first family's commercial interests would muddy U.S. leadership on human rights. Hua's wife, Deng Guilian, told CNN that she received a call Tuesday from police in Jiangxi telling her that her husband has been detained for conducting illegal surveillance and that she should expect to receive a formal notice in the mail soon. CLW executive director Li Qiang told the AP that the three men — named Hua Haifeng, Li Zhao and Su Heng — “must be held either by the factory or the police.” A police officer telephoned Hua Haifeng’s wife on Tuesday afternoon to say that he had been arrested on charges of illegal surveillance; the whereabouts of the other pair remains unknown. “I only know that my husband was on a business trip.”

CLW, which has investigated working conditions in China for 17 years, was due to release a report next month alleging excessive overtime, low pay, and the possible misuse of student interns at the company, which is run by the Huajian Group. “I appeal to President Trump, Ivanka Trump herself, and to her brand to advocate and press for the release our activists.”

Still, labor abuses in China go much deeper that Ivanka Trump brand shoes, applying to many of the household products that U.S. consumers purchase on a daily basis. Two of the investigators, Hua Haifeng and Li Zhao, were working undercover at a shoe factory in Dongguan, while the third investigator, Su Heng, was working at another factory in Ganzhou. Ganzhou Huajian International Shoe City Co. supplies 10,000 to 20,000 pairs of shoes a year for Ivanka Trump’s brand, though is just one of 15 Chinese factories contracted by the company, which is understood to sell 20 million pairs each year. Li said investigators had seen Ivanka Trump-brand shoes in the factory, as well as production orders for Ivanka Trump, Marc Fisher, Nine West and Easy Spirit merchandise.
China Labor Watch says one of its team was arrested and two others are missing when they were investigating labor practices at Ganzhou Huajian International Shoe City Co., whose products include Ivanka Trump-branded shoes.