China's 26 cotton companies were accused of Uyghur forced labor and blacklisted

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On May 16, the US government blacklisted 26 Chinese cotton companies and warehouses to prevent Uyghur forced labor products from entering the US market, and banned them from importing cotton.

A statement from the US Department of Homeland Security shows that most of the listed cotton companies are outside Uyghur, but they import cotton from Uyghur.

Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement: "By continuing to enforce this measure on the textile sector, we are holding the People's Republic of China accountable for exploiting the Uyghur people and oppressing them." »

He added: "This restriction will help companies that operate responsibly so that we can work together to prevent the entry of forced labor products into our country." »

Adrian Zenz, a researcher specializing in Uyghur forced labor and a researcher at the Memorial of the Victims of Communism in the United States, welcomed the decision of the Department of Homeland Security. "This is very important and a long-awaited step," he told our radio station. In my most recent report, I wrote that the rate of forced labor displacement in 2023 was a 38 percent increase over the previous year. More importantly, the key challenge in solving forced Uyghur labor is not only the products directly exported from Xinjiang, but also the middlemen and intermediary companies that transfer or reprocess products from Xinjiang. Although they are not based in Xinjiang, they buy cotton and other raw materials from there. This time, the inclusion of such intermediate companies in the blacklist is one of the important innovations in this regard. »

According to a statement from the US Department of Homeland Security, the US government has blacklisted 65 businesses since implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in 2021. The blacklisting of the above 26 cotton companies and factories under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law is the first time that so many units have been blacklisted at the same time.

According to Dr. Adrian Zenz, the fact that all the listed companies are in the same industry also shows that the work is systematic. "It used to be that one or two companies per industry were blacklisted," he says. This time, only 26 companies in the cotton sector were blacklisted at once. This is not only a very systematic and large-scale action, but it also shows that other areas where Uyghur forced labor may be subjected to such systematic punishment in the future. »

With the announcement of the above decision, US House of Representatives Chris Smith and US Senator Jeff Merkley, who are the chairmen of the China Affairs Executive Committee of the US National Assembly, immediately released a statement and welcomed the decision. In their statement, they emphasized that they will continue to strengthen the enforcement of the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law" and also asked the Ministry of Homeland Security to "blacklist companies in the fields of synthetic crystalline silicon, aluminum, synthetic chloride and semi-synthetic fibers that are contaminated by Uyghur forced labor." called to In their statement, they emphasized that "no one should be allowed to profit from the genocide."