After the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics by the United States, the House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday evening to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region, amid concerns over forced labor. This measure is part of the measures already taken by Washington to denounce the treatment reserved by Beijing to its Uyghur Muslim minority.
The measure was passed unanimously by voice vote, after lawmakers agreed on a compromise that eliminates the differences between the bill introduced in the House and the one passed in July in the Senate, dubbed ” Uyghur Forced Labor Relations Act ”.
Last week, the House passed his version of the bill by 428 to 1 – that of Republican Thomas Massie, representative of Kentucky, “mister No” known for his Christmas photo with guns in hand – which imposed penalties on “Persons responsible for human rights violations in this region”. But the text was not sent to the Senate, and a new version was amended Tuesday evening by the House.
Under the legislation, further restrictions will be imposed on imports from Xinjiang by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service to ensure that goods produced through the forced labor of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and members of other minority groups will not be bought or sold in the United States. The compromise reached between senators and representatives retains a provision creating a “rebuttable presumption” that all products come from Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has set up a network of detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, were made with forced labor.
“Ensuring that supply chains are free from forced labor”
China denies abuses in Xinjiang, which supplies much of the materials for solar panels, but the US government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.
Republicans had accused Joe Biden’s Democrats of slowing down the legislation because it would complicate the president’s renewable energy program. Democrats denied this claim. To speed up the timetable, a provision had been added to the Defense Bill. It prevented Defense Ministry funds from being used to purchase any product “extracted, produced or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor” in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
The Senate is expected to adopt the compromise version as early as Wednesday, and send it to the White House, where President Joe Biden has said he will sign it as law. “The administration will work closely with Congress to implement this bill to ensure that global supply chains are free from forced labor, while simultaneously working on the offshoring and third-party offshoring of business chains. ‘key supplies, including semiconductors and clean energy,’ White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
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