Akin Gump, the fourth largest lobbying firm in the country by revenue, is being paid to advocate for a polysilicon manufacturer led by an individual whom the U.S. government has linked to China’s repression of the Uyghur people.
In September 2025, Akin Gump entered into a lobbying contract with United Solar Polysilicon to represent its interests on trade policy, according to a March 31 disclosure. United Solar Polysilicon is led by its founder, Longgen Zhang.
Zhang was the CEO of Daqo New Energy, another polysilicon manufacturer, from 2018 to 2023, according to press releases. He also served as the vice chairman of Xinjiang Daqo New Energy, a subsidiary of the company based in China’s Uyghur-inhabited far west, from 2018 to 2022.
During his tenure at Daqo New Energy, the Chinese manufacturing magnate landed in hot water with the federal government multiple times over his links to the Chinese Communist Party’s repression of religious and ethnic minorities. The U.S. government, under both Republican and Democratic administrations, as well as international observers and other foreign governments, have described the CCP’s treatment of Uyghurs as a genocide.
In June 2021, for instance, the Department of Commerce added Xinjiang Daqo New Energy to the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List — a catalog of entities that the U.S. government has deemed a risk to its national security or foreign policy interests. This decision was made after the DOC determined that Zhang’s company was “participating in the practice of, accepting, or utilizing, forced labor involving Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups.”
Then, roughly a year later, while Zhang was still the vice chairman of Xinjiang Daqo New Energy, the Department of Homeland Security added the company to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List — a register established to track and punish firms benefiting from slave labor.
Xinjiang Daqo New Energy is part of a group of companies that “mine, produce, or manufacture wholly or in part any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise with forced labor,” according to DHS.
Placement on the two entity lists severely restricted Daqo New Energy’s ability to sell its goods to Americans.
From the U.S. government’s perspective, Zhang did not resolve the issue of forced Uyghur labor before leaving Daqo New Energy to found United Solar Polysilicon in 2023. In November 2024, DHS found that Xinjiang Daqo New Energy was sourcing materials from government-run forced labor programs in China’s far west.
Before joining Daqo New Energy, Zhang was an executive at JinkoSolar, another Chinese firm that has been accused of benefiting from China’s repression of ethnic and religious minorities.
Daqo New Energy and Zhang himself have denied any involvement in the repression of Uyghurs.
“Mr. Zhang was not personally implicated in any UFLPA violation investigation,” a spokesman for United Solar Polysilicon told the Washington Examiner. “We understand the inclusion on the UFLPA Entity List reflects U.S. government’s risk-based designation framework rather than an adjudicated finding of forced labor violations. We also understand Daqo has denied these allegations.”
The spokesman stated that United Solar Polysilicon “is in full compliance with globally recognized labor and environmental laws in addition to adhering to the highest [environmental, social and governance] standards.”
China faces accusations of subjecting Muslim minorities in its far west to internment, sterilization, forced abortions, indoctrination, enslavement, and sexual assault. The CCP has detained over 1 million Uyghurs since 2017, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Lobbyists who represent the Chinese Communist Party or its agents are traitors to the United States,” Michael Lucci, CEO of the national security organization State Armor, told the Washington Examiner. “The CCP is an enemy state responsible for trying to overturn the US-led global order and for the mass murder of our fellow Americans through an intentional flood of fentanyl. They should have no voice in our political system. Congress should follow the State of Texas’s example by enacting a law (HB 119) that prohibits lobbyists from accepting payment from the CCP or other foreign adversaries.”
One-time Democratic staffer Brian Pomper, a partner at Akin Gump who is one of the top trade lobbyists in D.C., is registered to represent United Solar Polysilicon. The other lobbyist on the account, Joseph Fawkner, was a senior policy adviser to Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV) from 2020 to 2022 and specializes in international trade.
How much United Solar Polysilicon is paying Akin Gump for its services is, as of yet, undisclosed.
United Solar Polysilicon, while headquartered in Oman, is partially owned by the Chinese private equity firm IDG Capital, which owns about 25% of the venture, according to disclosures.
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Polysilicon is a key material used in the manufacturing of solar panels.
Akin Gump did not respond to a request for comment.
