U.S. Blocks Imports From China's Uyghur Region Over Suspected Forced Labor

The United States on September 14 issued orders that block the import of cotton, apparel, computer parts, and hair products from China over allegations they are produced with forced labor.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the so-called “withhold release orders” give the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the authority to seize shipments of goods produced by forced labor or prison labor, preventing the goods from being imported into the United States.

The action, which is likely to stoke already heightened tensions between the United States and China, is aimed specifically at the treatment of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in China’s Xinjiang region.

“These orders demonstrate that the world will not stand for[China’s] human rights abuses against Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang, which include subjecting individuals to forced labor and stripping them of their freedom and agency to choose how and where they work,”Pompeo said in a statement.

He said the orders send a clear message to China that it is time to “end its practice of state-sponsored forced labor and to respect the human rights of all people.”

The orders freeze imports from four companies that produce cotton, apparel, and computer parts in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China. The border patrol also halted imports of hair products made at a manufacturing facility where authorities believe Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are forced to work.

The move also applies to all products tied to the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center in Xinjiang, where the CBP says it has information that “reasonably indicates” the use of prison labor to make hair products.

“This is not a vocational center, it is a concentration camp, a place where religious and ethnic minorities are subject to abuse and forced to work in heinous conditions with no recourse and no freedom,” Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told reporters. “This is modern-day slavery.”

Washington has recently ratcheted up pressure on China over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

Pompeo has said that American companies are “becoming aware” of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, but the CBP did not identify any U.S. companies that do business with the named entities.

In the past year, the U.S. government has issued eight “withhold release orders” to block goods from China tainted by forced labor and is considering further steps, including a ban on cotton and tomatoes from the entire Xinjiang region.

China has faced condemnation for placing more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang in concentration camps since 2017.

China says the camps are reeducation and training centers needed to combat separatist terrorism and extremism.

Uyghurs are the largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang, followed by Kazakhs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP