Biden signs bill punishing China for human rights abuses: Bans imports from Xinjiang

President Biden signed a bill Thursday cracking down on human rights abuses in China, banning imports from the Xinjiang province unless Chinese officials can prove they were not made with forced labor.  

The bipartisan legislation, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, passed the Senate by unanimous consent last week. It is the latest effort by the federal government in protest of what the White House has deemed a ‘genocide’ against millions of Uyghurs and other Muslims in China. 

‘The Administration will work closely with Congress to implement this bill to ensure global supply chains are free of forced labor, while simultaneously working to on-shore and third-shore key supply chains, including semiconductors and clean energy,’ White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement last week.

Asked Thursday at a briefing why Biden did not sign the legislation on camera, Psaki insisted the White House supports the bill, but sometimes signs legislation on camera and sometimes off. 

Chinese policemen push Uighur women who are protesting

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said that with the bill signed, American businesses and consumers ‘can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China’s horrific human rights abuses.’

More than 1 million Uyghurs are believed to be held in camps in the Xinjiang province, where they work as slave laborers and are allegedly often sexually abused or tortured and are forced to give up their cultural practices as part of a ‘re-education’ campaign. 

Chinese authorities say their goal is not to eliminate the Uighurs — a historically Muslim group of 13 million people — but to integrate them. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have long had the authority to detain imports suspected of being made with slave labor, but the authority was seldom used until 2016, when a trade law loophole that exempted any goods for which domestic production did not meet demand was closed. 

Use of the authority has slowly ticked up, and in fiscal year 2021 CBP had detained 967 shipments worth more than $367 million, according to the agency.

Under the new law, however, US authorities will assume all goods originating in the Xinjiang region were produced by forced labor, placing the onus on manufacturers to prove they weren’t. 

An Uighur woman holds her relatives’ ID cards who are detained 

Police detain a man during a rally in Hong Kong to show support for the Uighur minority in China

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a major proponent of the bill, told reporters at the Capitol last month: ‘I guarantee, as I speak to you now, everyone in this building owns something that was made by a slave in Xinjiang and most people don’t know that.’ 

Earlier this month the Biden administration announced it would take part in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics  due to China’s human rights abuses. 

Meanwhile, US chip maker Intel apologized to China after issuing a statement telling suppliers not to source products or labor from the Xinjiang region to keep forced labor out of the supply chain. 

In its recently published annual letter to suppliers, Intel wrote that it was ‘required to ensure that its supply chain does not use any labour or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region’, following restrictions imposed by ‘multiple governments.’ 

Following criticism from Chinese officials, Intel said its efforts to avoid using slave labor were to comply with US code, not a statement on its own beliefs. 

‘We apologize for the trouble caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public. Intel is committed to becoming a trusted technology partner and accelerating joint development with China,’ Intel said. 

China’s foreign ministry said ‘accusations of forced labour in Xinjiang are lies concocted by anti-China American forces’ aimed at hindering China’s development, according to Reuters. 

Psaki said of Intel’s bowing to China: ‘American companies should never feel the need to apologize for standing up for fundamental human rights or opposing repression. As we’ve said before, we call on all industries to ensure that they are not sourcing products that involve forced labor.’