Aug. 2 (UPI) — The United States has banned imports of goods produced by two China-based companies as it continues to stamp out the use of forced labor — in particular the forced labor of China’s Uyghur Muslim minorities — from the U.S. supply chain.
Effective Wednesday, imports from Chinese battery company Camel Group and spice and extract manufacturer Chenguang BioTech Group are banned on accusations that their business practices “target members of persecuted groups, including Uyghur minorities” in China, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement.
Products by a Chenguang subsidiary are also banned, it said.
“Today’s enforcement actions demonstrate the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to holding organizations accountable for their egregious human rights abuses and forced labor practices,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
“We will continue to work with all our partners to keep goods made with forced labor from Xinjiang out of U.S. commerce while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade.”
Since 2017, China has been repeatedly accused of arbitrarily detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in so-called re-education camps in China’s northwestern Xinjiang, officially known as the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which is rich in natural resources and a major source of agricultural production.
During the height of the pandemic in 2021, the United States, under President Donald Trump, declared that China’s treatment of Uygurs amounts to genocide.
The United States maintains that China has arbitrarily imprisoned Uyghurs in Xinjiang, where they are allegedly subjected to forced sterilization, torture, forced labor and draconian restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and movement.
The two China-based companies were banned under the December 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which bars imports from Xinjiang or goods manufactured by identified companies.
The additions lift the total number of listed companies to 24.
Since U.S. Customs and Border Protection began enforcing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in June of last year, 4,651 shipments valued at some $1.64 billion have been reviewed with nearly half being exports of electronics, according to CBP data.
Of those shipments, 872 have been denied entry to the United States.
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