US blacklists 5 more Chinese companies for allegedly using Uighurs for forced labour

Aiming to keep goods made with forced labor out of the country’s supply chains, the United States recently banned imports from five more Chinese companies over alleged human rights abuses involving Uighurs.

These China-based companies have been accused of profiting from the slave labor of Uighurs, which Beijing calls a “poverty alleviation” program.

According to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), five entities based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have been added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, bringing the total number of listed entities to 73.

This means that Americans are now explicitly banned from doing business with these 73 companies. A blanket ban also applies to the import of any goods produced by the slave labor of Uighurs.

Fertiliser maker Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings and its parent company Century Sunshine Group Holdings are both based in Hong Kong but are accused of sourcing contaminated inputs from China’s Xinjiang region.

Kashgar Construction Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd., Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper Co., Ltd., and Xinjiang Tengjiang Magnesium Products Co., Ltd. are accused of directly employing Uighurs as slaves.

DHS said adding these names to the UFLPA list is based on its commitment to eliminate forced labor and promote accountability for China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Effective August 9, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by Century Sunshine Group Holdings Limited, Kashgar, Construction Engineering (Group) Co., Ltd., Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings, Ltd.; Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper Co., Ltd., and Xinjiang Tengjiang Magnesium Products Co., Ltd. will be prohibited from entering the United States.

“As DHS identifies more entities across a variety of sectors that use or promote forced labor, we take action to keep their contaminated goods out of our nation’s supply chains,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a statement.

The UFLPA was signed into law in December 2021 and the UFLPA Entity List includes companies that are active in the apparel, agriculture, polysilicon, plastics, chemicals, batteries, home appliances, electronics, and food additives sectors.

“Companies must do their due diligence and know where their products are coming from,” said DHS Under Secretary for Policy Robert Silvers, who serves as chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force Partnership (FLETF).

FLETF is an interagency task force consisting of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Departments of Labor, State, Justice, Treasury, and Commerce (member agencies).

The US government has accused Beijing since 2021 of committing “genocide” against Uighurs and other Muslims in far-western Xinjiang, including the sterilization of women and the confinement of Uighurs in high-security internment camps.

The Washington-based Uyghur Campaign has praised the US decision to expand the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List.

It said the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “abuses and repressive policies” are well documented, which has “implemented a system of forced labour to alter the demographic composition of East Turkistan through labour transfer and eradicate Uyghur culture – a key strategy in the ongoing Uyghur genocide.”

“The Uighur genocide has become a profitable venture for big businesses,” said Rushan Abbas, the nonprofit’s executive director.

“By expanding the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to cover these five CCP-controlled companies, the US government is sending a strong message: it is committed to making this human rights crisis economically untenable,” Abbas said.

“The only way to end this tyranny is for the global community – businesses, nations and organizations – to unite and impose substantial, effective consequences against the CCP’s brutal actions, rather than being satisfied with simply issuing statements of condemnation,” Abbas said.

Meanwhile, a Chinese researcher has said the US accusations are groundless. Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday that using the “human rights” card is another US stunt to stifle the development of Chinese enterprises.