Boeing Shareholders Make China Proposal

Boeing Co. shareholders are being asked to weigh in with China on the side of democracy.

A resolution filed by a small Catholic shareholders group would bind Boeing to nine principles in relations with China, including refusal to use goods made with forced labor, pressure for the release of political prisoners and promotion of freedom of expression.

The measure was announced Thursday by the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin Order in Milwaukee, the Passionist Community of Chicago and an anonymous private trust. It is part of a campaign among church and pro-Tibet groups for action by U.S. corporations to promote human rights in Asia and Tibetan independence.

“Boeing has been the Chinese government’s lap dog,” said Michael Crosby, a Capuchin friar and longtime corporate human rights activist. “They have lobbied for China on most-favored-nation status and membership in the World Trade Organization without raising any questions about what Chinese leaders are doing to their own people.”

The resolution will be voted on at the company’s annual shareholders meeting here April 28.

Boeing’s board of directors is recommending that the resolution be rejected.