When did I ever say that I wouldn't defend it? It is highly disingenuous of you to imply that I wouldn't.
As for my statement, note the use of the word "is". What matters is the present and the foreseeable future, as I have already stated. What may have happened decades or centuries ago and is not happening now is irrelevant.
As for what criteria qualifies as human rights abuses? Those would be the same criteria that are commonly used by our society: Sweatshops and other slave labor-like conditions (China, among others), aggression against other countries and oppression of ethnic groups not in power (Israel), and child labor (China, the Philippines.) These criteria are not vague nor apply to the United States.
China is not the only country with child labor, human rights abuse, oppression of ethnic groups, etc. The United States is also guilty of such. We're currently fighting a war in the Middle East, specifically Afghanistan. We oppress the ethnic groups native to the region and abuse human rights, rights that are protected in the US by law. Soldiers are killed every day and civilians that live in the region are killed as well. Conditions are much worse than some sweatshop.
Your friend should read up on history, and stop being pro-American. No nation is 100% innocent, past or present, of child labor. In fact, China's so-called sweat shops have better conditions than Black slaves in the US did.
Lastly, Intel would never hire children to run a fab. The technical term for Intel's "factories" is fab, short for fabrication. Assembly lines may have children working, but definitely not the fabs. Most of the things you buy in the United States and almost every country, is made in Asia. By Asia I mean India, Sri Lanka, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, etc. Clothes, furniture, electronics, construction materials, etc. If you really wanted to boycott child labor or the other criteria mentioned, then go be a hermit, make your own clothes, grow/cook your own food, and build your house from timber. Oh wait, that sounds a lot like Gandhi and Thoreau. I really admire those two guys...