Joe Biden bans imports from China’s Xinjiang over Uyghur ‘genocide’

US President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law a legislation that bans imports from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about Beijing's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is the latest in a series of attempts by the US to get tough with China over its alleged systemic and widespread abuse of ethnic and religious minorities.

It requires US government agencies to expand their monitoring of the use of forced labour by China's ethnic minorities. Crucially, it creates a presumption that goods coming from Xinjiang are made with forced labour. Businesses will have to prove that forced labour, including by workers transferred from Xinjiang, was not used in manufacturing the product before it will be allowed into the US.

The House and Senate each passed the measure with overwhelming support from Democrats and Republicans.

The United States says China is committing genocide in its treatment of the Uyghurs. That includes widespread reports by rights groups and journalists of forced sterilisation and large detention camps where many Uyghurs allegedly are forced to work in factories.

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