US bans imports of solar panel material from Chinese company over Xinjiang forced labour allegations

Name: Canada leads call by more than 40 countries for China to give UN access to Xinjiang
Uploaded: 2021-06-24T00:59:02.000Z
Duration: 1 min 11 s
Description: Canada leads call by more than 40 countries for China to give UN access to Xinjiang

US Commerce Department on Wednesday ordered a ban on US imports of a key solar panel material from Chinese-based Hoshine Silicon Industry over forced labour allegations

It also restricted exports to Hoshine, three other Chinese companies and the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), saying they were involved with the forced labour of Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang

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The Xinjiang region accounts for around 45 per cent of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon supply, a report by solar industry analysts found. Photo: Reuters

Reuters

Published: 8:59am, 24 Jun 2021Updated: 9:08pm, 24 Jun 2021

The Biden administration on Wednesday ordered a ban on US imports of a key solar panel material from Chinese-based Hoshine Silicon Industry over forced labour allegations, said two sources briefed on the matter.

The US Commerce Department separately restricted exports to Hoshine, three other Chinese companies and the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), saying they were involved with the forced labour of Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang.

The three other companies added to the US economic blacklist include Xinjiang Daqo New Energy, a unit of Daqo New Energy Corporation; Xinjiang East Hope non-ferrous Metals, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based manufacturing giant East Hope Group; and Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material, part of GCL New Energy Holdings.

The US Commerce Department said the companies and XPCC “have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labour and high-technology surveillance against Uygurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups in” Xinjiang.

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Canada leads call by more than 40 countries for China to give UN access to Xinjiang

At least some of the companies listed by the US Commerce Department are major manufacturers of monocrystalline silicon and polysilicon that are used in solar panel production.

The companies or their parent firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment, or could not immediately be reached. XPCC could not immediately be reached for comment.

When asked for comment, China’s embassy in Washington referred to remarks on Tuesday by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian who dismissed accusations of genocide and forced labour in Xinjiang as “nothing but rumours with ulterior motives and downright lies.”