US law prohibiting imports made with forced Uyghur labor infuriates China
Feb 24, 2022
Hong Kong, February 24 : The new American law prohibiting foreign companies to source their imports from forced labor in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has infuriated Beijing, local media reported.
Banning imports from Xinjiang, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (ULFPA), signed by US President Joe Biden on December 23, 2021, also imposes sanctions on foreign individuals responsible for forced labor in the region, The HK post reported.
The UFLPA presumes that a product with any link to Xinjiang or to trafficked Uyghurs is made with forced labor. Thus, all goods manufactured even partially in the XUAR will be considered a product of forced labor resulting in the prohibition of its entry at US ports.
Under such an act, an importer will have to furnish clear evidence that the imported product was not a result of forced labor, the publication reported citing Bloomberglaw.
It added that under such conditions, the companies sourcing goods from China will have to review their supply chains to ensure that none of the imported products, starting from its raw materials, is made with forced labor in China.
Notably, China has been rebuked globally for the crackdown on Uyghur Muslims by sending them to mass detention camps, interfering in their religious activities, and sending members of the community to undergo some form of forcible re-education or indoctrination.
US lawmakers have accused China of imprisoning as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minority groups in a system of extrajudicial mass internment camps, where they are forced to produce textiles, electronics, food products, shoes, tea, and handicrafts.
Beijing, on the other hand, has repeatedly denied all accusations of being engaged in abuses in Xinjiang.
