House votes to ban goods made by forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region
By Bryan Pietsch
09 December 2021
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday night to ban most imports from the Xinjiang region in China over concerns that goods were made there through the use of forced labor, as Western nations continue to confront Beijing’s crackdown on ethnic minorities in the area.
By an overwhelming 428-to-1 vote, the House moved to ban all imports from the region in northwest China unless customs officers in the United States are able to determine that the products were not made with forced labor. The bill also requires many listed companies in the United States who engage in Xinjiang-related activities to make regular disclosures. There are already U.S. restrictions on the import of several goods made there.
Since 2017, Beijing has waged a campaign to forcibly assimilate the Uyghur community, carrying out widespread surveillance and repression, as well as detaining many members of the mostly Muslim ethnic minority in centers and camps. The practices have garnered accusations of crimes against humanity and both the Biden and Trump administrations, as well as several European legislatures, have declared China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims a genocide.
