US Bars Imports From 3 More Chinese Firms On Uyghur Labour Concerns

The United States widened a trade blacklist Friday taking aim at forced labor concerns involving Uyghurs and other minorities in China.

Three Chinese companies -- COFCO Sugar Holding, Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group and Anhui Xinya New Materials -- were the latest additions to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list, the government said.

From December 11, goods produced by the three firms will be barred from entering the United States, bringing the number of designated companies to 30.

This comes "as a result of the companies' participation in business practices that target members of persecuted groups, including Uyghur minorities in the PRC," said the Department of Homeland Security, referring to the People's Republic of China.

COFCO Sugar Holding refines and produces sugar, Jingweida Technology makes devices like network transformers and radio frequency filters, while Xinya New Materials manufactures textile materials.

The US government and lawmakers in a number of other Western countries have labeled China's treatment of the Uyghur minority in the northwestern Xinjiang region as "genocide," although Beijing vehemently denies this.

According to rights groups, at least one million people, mostly members of Muslim minorities, have been incarcerated in the region and face widespread abuses, including forced sterilization of women and coerced labour.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act bans the import of all goods from the Xinjiang region unless companies offer verifiable proof that production did not involve forced labor.

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