This is a world first. The purchase of cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon, resulting from the forced labor of Uyghurs in China, is now banned by the United States. At the initiative of American President Joe Biden, a law in this direction has just been voted unanimously by the Senate.
It provides for the banning of products made in whole or in part in this Chinese province, unless companies can prove that the products were not made with forced labor.
“We have provided the country with new tools to prevent the entry into the territory of products made with forced labor in Xinjiang and to hold accountable the people and entities behind these abuses,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The United States believes that China is carrying out a veritable genocide in Xinjiang and denounces the existence of forced camps which, according to Beijing, are in reality “vocational training centers”.
In recent months, Washington has imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies and politicians they suspect of participating in the surveillance and alleged mistreatment of the people of Xinjiang.
The question of respect for human rights by the Chinese authorities is at the heart of the boycott of the next Winter Olympics organized by Beijing from February 4 to 20, by several Western powers, including the Americans, but also the Canada, United Kingdom, Australia or Japan.