par Andrea Shalal et Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States to call on its Group of Seven allies to step up pressure on China over the use of forced labor in the minority’s northwestern Xinjiang province Uighur Muslim, a senior US administration official said on Friday.
US President Joe Biden will attend in person a meeting of the G7 (US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada) in Britain in June, where he is expected to focus on what he sees it as a strategic rivalry between democracies and autocratic states, especially China.
White House adviser Daleep Singh said the G7 meeting in Cornwall would focus on health security, the synchronized economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, concrete actions on climate change and “the rise in democratic values shared within the G7. “
“These are like-minded allies, and we want to take tangible and concrete measures that show our willingness to coordinate with economies that do not have market economy status, such as China,” said said Daleep Singh.
In an interview with Reuters, the adviser said that “the challenge for the G7 is to show that open societies, democratic societies still have the best chance of solving the biggest problems in our world, and that autocracies are not the path to follow.”
Daleep Singh said Washington has already taken action against China over human rights violations in Xinjiang, but will seek to continue this effort with G7 allies. Joint sanctions against Chinese officials accused of abuse in the province were announced last month by the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada.
China denies all accusations of abuse and has responded with punitive measures against the EU.
Daleep Singh said details were still being worked out, but the summit provided an opportunity for U.S. allies to show solidarity on the issue.
“We have made it clear that our consumers deserve to know when the products they import are made using forced labor,” he said.
UN activists and experts say at least one million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. Activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor and sterilization. China says its camps provide vocational training and are necessary to counter extremism.
The White House said on Friday that Joe Biden will travel to the UK and Belgium in June for his first overseas trip since taking office, including attending the G7 summit in Cornwall, UK. United, from June 11 to 13.
(French version Camille Raynaud)
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