1. Dear Civil Society Partners,
I writeto you fromtheU.S. Departmentof State, whereI havethehonor of servingas U.S. Under Secretary of State.Whilemy timeas America’s
chief economic diplomat is drawing to an end this week, I am writing to you today because the matter at hand is urgent and will remain a high
priority for my successor. The threat of malign influence from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is one of the most passionately unifying
bipartisan issues of our time. Since civil society organizations have always been leaders in exposing the world’s inequities and injustices, it is
critical that you remain at the forefront of the shared effort to secure the free world against rising authoritarianism. At the U.S. Department of
State, oneof ourprimarymissionsisto monitor, advocate, and providea worldwideframework for humanrights, freedom, prosperity, and the
environment. Your organizations are an inspiration to the world and have always been a vital partner in that mission.
MULTIPLYING CIVIL SOCIETY’S IMPACT In that same spirit of partnership, we need your leadership in confronting
and strategically linkingthedifferent dimensionsof risk to economic, environmental, technological, and human rights protections. Civilsociety’s
positiveimpactcan bemultiplied by combiningyour actionsin thesocialsector witheffortsunderway in thepublic, business, and educationsectors.
Thefocus of thesecombinedeffortscan bemagnified further by unitingunder theframework of theClean Network and leveragingthemomentum
of its rapidly growingallianceof democracies, which to daterepresentsover two-thirds of theworld’sGDP. Theintegration of linkingthevarious
dimensions of authoritarian risks, combining the actions of various sectors, and uniting under the global Clean Network Alliance of
Democracies creates a network effect that has the power to be an exponential force for good in promoting democratic principles over
authoritarianism. The key to the Clean Network’srapid success is that it provides the unity to stand in solidarity against the CCP’s abuses,
intimidation, and retaliation. Afterserving astheCEO of publiccompaniesand chairman oftheboard of PurdueUniversity, Ihavelearned that
leadership in the face of challenges starts with the core principle of transparency. Visibility results in accountability. This is precisely where
cooperativeeffortbetween thepublicsector, businesssector, education sector, social sector, and citizenryisthemostpowerful force for good.
HONORING HUMAN RIGHTS. Through runningeconomicdiplomacy for theUnited States, I havecometo learn that nowhere
are theCCP’s human rights abuses morepronounced than in theXinjiangregion’s mass internment camps. Citizens, institutions, and companies
must beawareof theCCP’s large-scalehuman rights abuses, which includeforced abortion, forced sterilization, and involuntary implantation of
birth control devices; forced separation of families; pervasive, high-tech arbitrary surveillance; automatic collection of personal data, including
genetic information. Thegenocidetakingplaceis designedto eradicatetheethnicandreligiousbeliefsof UyghursandotherMuslims. The
CCP aims to compel members of these minority groups to renounce their religion and cultural traditions and embrace the ideology of the
Communist Party. It then transfers millions to forced labor camps and into indentured servitude to bolster the profits of Chinese companies,
including many that do business with the western world.
CLEAN SUPPLY CHAINS WITH CLEAN LABOR PRACTICES Wepublished aXinjiang Supply Chain
BusinessAdvisory, aclear statementof concern for theattention of U.S. companies,institutions, investors,and their businesspartners around
theworld. This advisory urged U.S. businesseswithpotentialsupply chain and investmentexposureto Xinjiangto considertheethical,
reputational, economic, and legalrisks of involvement with entitiesthatengagein human rights abuses, includingforced labor in themanufacture
of goods intended for domesticand internationaldistribution. CleanSupply Chains with CleanLaborPractices havebeena catalyst
behindthe U.S. government hasadding dozens of PRC government agencies, state-owned, andnotionally privatecorporationsto its
export control EntityList relatedto humanrights abuses in Xinjiang. This light of transparency and published studies willenableyour
organizations to promotepartnerships only with thosewhosesupply chains arefreefromhuman rights violations.
CLEAN PORTFOLIOS WITH CLEAN FUNDS.In letters to U.S. businessleaders and thegoverningboards of American
universities, I urged their leadership to divest from companies on the Entity List andPentagon List that are involved with human rights
abuses, the surveillance state andmilitary-civil fusion. The boards of foundations, pension funds, financial institutions and university
endowment fundshaveamoralobligation,and perhaps afiduciary duty,to ensurethattheir institutionshaveclean investments andclean portfolios.
Studies show that mostof theseorganizations ownPRC stocks through emerging market index funds. To help shinethelight of transparency on
thesefunds, wepublished aU.S. governmentfactsheetentitled: U.S.Investors Are Funding MalignPRC Companieson MajorIndices. I urge
you to partner only with organizations that are not financing the CCP’s egregious behavior.
A CLEAN NETWORK WITH CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES. Many of thesehuman rights abusesareenabled by Chinese
companies, such as Huawei, ZTE, and others, which serve as tools of the CCP’s surveillance apparatus. That is one of the key reasons why the
U.S. StateDepartmentlaunched theClean Network Alliance of Democracies, amultifaceted effortto addressthelong-termthreats to dataprivacy,
security, and human rights posed by the CCP. The Clean Network Alliance of Democracies is rooted in internationally accepted digital trust
standards. It represents the execution of a multi-year, enduring strategy built on a growing coalition comprised of 56 Clean Countries,
more than 200 Clean Telcos, and dozens of industry-leading Clean Companies around the world.

2. CLEAN INFRASTRUCTURE WITH CLEAN FINANCING. The developing world has an enormous need for
infrastructure to support its growing population and expanding middle class. The CCP provides low quality infrastructure and uses it to gain
leverage and controlover developingnations through its OneBelt, OneRoad (OBOR) initiative. Through OBOR, theCCP trapscountriesin debt,
spreads corruptionby bribinglocalofficials, ships in armies of its workers toconstructtheprojectsand leaves atrailof environmentaldestruction
and human rights abusein its wake. Thealternativeis Clean Infrastructurethroughthe BlueDot Network which was launchedby the U.S.,
Japan, and Australia to provide high-quality infrastructure that is private sector led. This initiative is an extension of the Clean Network
principles and many nations aremembers, includingall12 of theThreeSeas Countries.Socialsector organizationsplay acrucialrolein sustainable
development efforts. Weask you tospread thewordabouttheBDN to your internationalpartnersand advocateforClean Infrastructureprinciples.
CLEAN ENERGY WITH CLEAN MINERALS. The CCP is also seeking to coopt the rare earth minerals and energy
resources of foreign nations to control the development of everything from lifesaving medications to lithium batteries. Through the Clean
Minerals initiative,the StateDepartment isworking to endAmerica’s dependenceon China forrare earthelements used to manufacture
medical supplies, energy technology, defense instruments, and high-tech products by establishing a secure supply chain for these minerals. The
U.S. public and private sectors must work together to foster open supply chains for critical minerals and energy resources, by strengthening our
relationships with sourcecountries. By increasingits controlover rawmaterials,Chinais effectively controllingthelithium-ionbattery industry to
become the world’s dominant advanced energy production center, which supports China’s goal to dominate the global electronic vehicle
market. Civil society institutions can help secure supply chains by supporting source countries’ stability and educating the public on this issue’s
high stakes.
CLEAN ENVIRONMENT WITH CLEAN INNOVATION. I recently published op-edsin Ecuador, Brazil, and other
nations calling attention to the way Beijing’s hunger for economic advantage and energy resources has led to an all-out assault on the world’s
environment. In theair, thePRC is by far themost extensiveand fastest-growingemitter of numerous pollutants and greenhousegases, emitting
more CO2 than theUSand EU combined. Climatechange isoneof the toppriorities that requiresa globaleffort . WhilethePRC extols its
“global leadership” in renewable energy technologies, it promises to build 1,600 coal plants in more than 62 countries under the umbrella of its
One Belt, One Road initiative. On the land, the PRC is the world’s largest consumer of illegal timber and illegal wildlife products. In western
Africa, rosewoodforestsarebeingillegally denuded, almost exclusively to feed high demand in thePRC. TheChineseCommunistPartysupports
the willful disregard for air, land, and water quality. The Chinese people – and the world – deserve better.
CLEAN OCEANS WITH CLEAN FISHING. The PRC’s environmental abuse continues in the world’s oceans. It is the
world’s biggest perpetratorof illegal, unreported, andunregulatedfishing, robbingsocieties of catches worth billions of dollarseach year and
preventingsustainablefisheries. ThePRC is also responsiblefor nearly one-third of theplasticpollution cloggingtheworld’s oceans and harming
marine life. My portfolio as Under Secretary of Stateincludes protectingtheworld’soceans—and as thefather of amarinebiologist, this issueis
personalto me. That’swhy I havecalled on internationaland privatesectorpartners in multiplefora, includingat theOcean Conferencein Oslo,
to demand an end to the PRC’s war on marine life. Civil society partners have the power to affect change in this regard by investing in marine
preservation and calling attention to the PRC’s destructive actions.
CLEAN STANDARDS WITH CLEAN PRINCIPLES. TheClean Network buildson acollection of Clean Standards and
Clean Principles thatformthebasisfor trusted collaborationacrossalltechnology sectors. TheCCPtoooften conductsits affairs in directviolation
of each of these principles, which is why nations, companies, and citizens cannot trust the CCP to fulfill its promises or stand by its word. And
without trust, you have nothing. Clean Principles include acting with the utmost integrity in our business dealings; operating with full
transparency; following all relevant laws, rules, and regulations; respecting property rights of all kinds; honoring reciprocity in all that we do;
prioritizingthehealth, safety, and rights ofworkers;respectinghuman rightsin allof our business relationships;honoringthesovereignty of nations
and never using fear or undue influenceto gain an advantage;treatingplanet Earth with respect;scrupulously protectingthe privacy rights of all
citizens; and championing democracy, liberty, and freedom.
CLEAN GOVERNANCE WITH CLEAN VALUES. Theaboveprinciples and prioritiesdeservetobeinstitutionalized by
the private and social sectors in the United States. Not long ago, these values were common sense, are now under sustained assault worldwide,
mainly by theChineseCommunistParty. That is why theboardsof directors for allcivilsociety and privatesector institutions shouldinstitutionalize
and document their support for human rights, their opposition to military-civil fusion, and their commitment to Clean Principles such as trust,
transparency, reciprocity, respectforthe ruleof law, respect forthe environment, andrespect forproperty of all kinds. As I said in my
letters to allU.S. Businessesand Universities, “your boards of directorshaveaduty toestablish governanceprinciples when it comes toinvesting
or dealing with entities that directly or indirectly facilitate human rights abuses.”Your organizations have the ability to codify clean values into
governance principles that will serve as an example to others throughout the world.
CLEAN ACTION WITH CIVIL SOCIETY’S POWERFUL VOICE. We need your help to spread themessage
about theCCP’s widespread humanrightsabusesand environmentaldegradation. You arepowerfulforcemultipliersfor America’spositiveimpact
around theworld. TheAmerican socialsector sets acompellingexample for theinternationalpartners in theClean Network. You shinethelight
of freedom and liberty in dark corners of the world. The social sector can help lead the public sector, business sector, education sector, and
Americans in a joint effort to promote democratic principles and values as an alternative to authoritarianism. My experience in the business,
social, education, andgovernment sectorstellsme that thereistremendouspowerin uniting thosesectorsas a force forgoodif we are all
armedwith thetruth. Theworld is watching, and theintegrity of our democracy and educationalinstitutionsis in ourhands. Whether in thepublic
sector, private sector, or as an everyday citizen, I look forward to continuing to work together to protect the freedoms we all hold dear.
With respect and appreciation,
Keith
Keith J Krach
Under Secretary, State Department

3. United States of America