China slams‘bandit-like’ US over trade restrictions on Xinjiang firms

Washington says Hoshine Silicon Industry will not be able to sell products in the US due to ‘reasonable indications’ of forced labour in manufacturing process

It also announced that Hoshine and four other firms will be subject to tight restrictions on their ability to acquire US commodities, software and technology

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The White House said in a statement on Thursday that the use of forced labour was part of Beijing’s systematic effort to repress millions of ethnic Uygurs and other minorities in the far-west region. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 25 Jun 2021Updated: 12:36am, 26 Jun 2021

China on Friday hit out at a “bandit-like” US government after Washington banned imports of solar panel materials from a Chinese company and placed trade restrictions on four others for alleged use of forced labour in Xinjiang.

The White House said in a statement on Thursday that the use of forced labour was part of Beijing’s systematic effort to repress millions of ethnic Uygurs and other minorities in the far-west region.

Washington said that Hoshine Silicon Industry would not be able to sell its products in the United States due to “reasonable indications” of forced labour in its manufacturing process.

The US Commerce Department also announced that Hoshine and four other Xinjiang firms would be subject to tight restrictions on their ability to acquire US commodities, software and technology.

Our environmental goals will not be achieved on the backs of human beings in a forced labour environment

Alejandro Mayorkas

“The United States believes that state-sponsored forced labour in Xinjiang is both an affront to human dignity and an example of the [China’s] unfair economic practices,” the White House said.

China lashed out at the order, calling it a “bandit-like act no different from pillaging other people’s property” that creates “forced poverty and forced unemployment” among Xinjiang’s people.