Washington: In a move that irked Beijing, United States President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law blocking imports from China’s Xinjiang region until businesses can prove that the item was made without forced labor. were created.
“Today, I signed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The United States will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that supply chains, including Xinjiang and other parts of China, are free from the use of forced labor ,” President Biden tweeted.
The law signed earlier on Thursday by President Biden comes on concerns about China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the move, saying President Biden’s approval of the law in the context of the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang underscores Washington’s commitment to combating forced labor.
“The State Department is committed to working with Congress and our interagency partners to continue addressing bonded labor in Xinjiang and strengthen international action against this blatant human rights violation,” Blinken said in a statement.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkle, on his part, said it was necessary to “send a resounding and clear message against genocide and slave labor.”
“Now … we can finally ensure that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without unintentional collusion in China’s horrific human rights abuses,” Merkle, one of the bill’s co-authors, said in a statement. said.
The Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the United States’ push against Beijing’s treatment of China’s Uighur Muslim minority.
Businesses will now have to prove that forced labor, including workers relocated from Xinjiang, was not used in the manufacture of the product before it would be allowed in the United States, the AP reported.
However, China has denied any abuse, clearly stating the steps needed to counter terrorism and the separatist movement.
The Chinese embassy in Washington has said that the act “ignores the truth and maliciously discredits the human rights situation in Xinjiang”.
“This is a serious violation of international law and norms of international relations, and gross interference in China’s internal affairs. China strongly condemns and strongly rejects this,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement.
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