US expands restrictions on imports from 3 more Chinese firms linked to forced labor

The United States has extended import restrictions to cover three more Chinese companies as part of its ongoing efforts to eliminate products manufactured using forced labor from Uyghur minorities within the U.S. supply chain.

The inclusion of these firms, 2 textile and 1 chemical producer, in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List raised the total number of entities on the list to 27.

The three companies were designated as a result of their business practices involving Uyghur minorities and other persecuted groups, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

“We do not tolerate companies that use forced labor, that abuse the human rights of individuals in order to make a profit,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in the statement.

The three companies were designated because of their collaboration with the Xinjiang government in recruiting, transporting, harboring, or utilizing the forced labor of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, or other persecuted groups outside the region.

The 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List (UFLPA) makes it unlawful to import goods into the United States produced in Xinjiang or by companies identified on the list, unless importers can demonstrate that the goods were not made with forced labor.

Many activists and international rights groups have voiced concerns that Chinese authorities have established labor camps in Xinjiang for Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups, although Beijing refutes these claims.

It should be mentioned that millions of Muslims are detained at Chinese concentration camps. This is the largest mass detention of people since the Holocaust. The Chinese communist government has destroyed 16,000 mosques in East Turkestan as a part of its agenda to wipe out the Muslim identity and culture.