US Bans Imports From 37 Chinese Companies Over Uyghur Forced Labor

A worker moves freshly harvested cotton at a processing plant in Aksu, Xinjiang, China, on Dec. 1, 2015. Dominique Patton/Reuters

The outgoing Biden administration is banning imports from an additional 37 China-based companies over forced labor in the Xinjiang region, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated on Jan. 14.

Starting on Jan. 15, Huafu Fashion, one of the world’s largest textile manufacturers, 25 of its subsidiaries, and 11 Chinese solar or mining companies will be included in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List for producing products or mining critical minerals in Xinjiang, where the Chinese communist regime is accused of human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities.

Under the UFLPA, businesses are banned from importing products from companies on the list and anything mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in Xinjiang, unless they can prove that no forced labor is involved.

The Jan. 14 addition is the largest expansion to the list since the UFLPA became law in December 2021, bringing the total number of companies on the list to 144.

“In adding 37 companies to the UFLPA Entities List and bringing the total to nearly 150, we again demonstrate our relentless fight against the cruelty of forced labor, our unwavering commitment to basic human rights, and our tireless defense of a free, fair, and competitive market,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

The DHS said Huafu “maintains a vertically integrated supply chain from cotton planting in [Xinjiang], processing, and yarn spinning through textiles manufacturing.”

Among the 25 Huafu subsidiaries added to the list are 22 located in Xinjiang.

According to a list published in July 2023, compiled by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Britain’s Sheffield Hallam University, Huafu had been connected in media or academic reports to state-sponsored labor transfer outside Xinjiang, while one of its subsidiaries, Xinjiang Tianfu Cotton Supply Chain Co., had been connected to state-sponsored labor transfer within the region.

Three of the subsidiaries were connected to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which is sanctioned by the United States, according to the Sheffield Hallam University list. They include Shihezi Huafu Hongsheng Cotton Industry Co., Huyanghe Huafu Hongsheng Cotton Industry Co., and Xinjiang Tianfu Cotton Supply Chain Co.

Since the early 2000s, the Chinese regime has implemented programs to transfer labor within Xinjiang or from Xinjiang to other provinces, claiming that the policy is aimed at alleviating poverty. However, researchers have said that the programs are coercive and have more sinister purposes, such as reducing the density of the Uyghur population.

Evidence provided “strong proof of the systemically coercive nature of Xinjiang’s labor transfer programs and underscores a process-oriented approach towards designating such programs to be forced labor,” Adrian Zenz, senior fellow and director of China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said in a report published in 2021 by Washington-based defense policy think tank The Jamestown Foundation. Zenz was one of the first researchers to expose the mass detention of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in internment camps in Xinjiang.

The Chinese regime has previously denied forced labor in Xinjiang, saying the allegations were made up by “anti-China” individuals and organizations in the West.

Other companies being added to the UFLPA Entity List “mine and process Xinjiang’s critical minerals” or “manufacture inputs for solar modules with polysilicon made in Xinjiang,” the DHS stated.

The list includes limited companies Jiangsu Meike Solar Technology, Baotou Meike Silicon Energy, Shuangliang Silicon Materials (Batou), Xinjiang Energy (Group), Xinjiang Energy (Group) Real Estate, Xinjiang Zijin Zinc Industry, Xinjiang Jinbao Mining, Zijin Mining Group, Xinjiang Zijin Zinc Industry, Xinjiang Zijin Nonferrous Metals, and Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper.