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Anti-China protesters outside the White House last month
The US Congress passed a bill requiring companies to prove that goods imported from China’s Xinjiang region were not produced under forced labor.
The United States accuses China of genocide in suppressing mainly Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, and China has repeatedly denied this accusation.
The bill was criticized by big companies doing business in Xinjiang, including Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple.
The bill initially lacked the support of the White House, but was eventually passed by Congress.
On Thursday, the Senate passed the bill almost unanimously, and only one senator did not vote in favor.
The official name of the bill is the “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act” (Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act). It has been submitted to U.S. President Biden and will become law after signing.
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For months, the White House has avoided setting a position on the bill, but earlier this week, press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden would sign the bill.
The United States accuses China of slavery and genocide in the resource-rich western regions. American companies and some multinational groups facing supply chain shortages have lobbied against the plan’s passage, citing concerns that the bill will affect business activities.
“Many companies have taken steps to clean up their supply chains. And, frankly, they shouldn’t worry about this law,” Senator Marco Rubio from Florida said after the Senate passed the bill.
“For companies that have not done so, they can no longer continue to allow Americans-frankly, each of us-to become accomplices in atrocities and genocide without knowing it.”
Members of the Senate and House of Representatives agreed this week on the final text of the bill, after the House of Representatives and Senate passed an early version of the bill.
The measure also eliminated the Republican Party’s obstruction to the approval of Biden’s ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.
On Thursday, local time, the US Department of Commerce also announced sanctions on more than 30 Chinese technology companies and research institutions, accusing them of providing support to the Chinese military.
The latest regulations prohibit US companies from selling products to sanctioned companies and entities without a special license.
The U.S. Department of Commerce also accused China’s Military Academy of Military Sciences of using biotechnology to “support China’s military end-uses,” including “so-called brain-controlled weapons.”
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement that China “is choosing to use these technologies to control its people and suppress members of ethnic minorities and religious groups.”
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Also on Thursday, the US Treasury Department announced an investment blacklist of eight Chinese companies, accusing them of biometric surveillance and tracking of Uyghurs, including DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer of small drones, which produces A drone frequently used by amateurs.
At a press conference on Wednesday, when asked about the new sanctions that the United States might impose, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded: “Individual US politicians have generalized the concept of national security, and politicized, instrumentalized, and conscious technology and economic and trade issues. Morphology.”
“This goes against the principles of market economy and fair competition. It only threatens and harms the security of the global industrial chain and supply chain, and undermines international trade rules. It is a typical political manipulation that harms others and oneself.”
This move comes at a time when tensions between China and several major Western countries are escalating.
The United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and Canada announced that they will not send diplomats to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022 to protest so-called human rights violations.