The US earlier this year banned cotton and tomato products from Xinjiang over alleged human rights violations, but the province remains a major agricultural base.
Beijing insists its long-running initiative has improved Xinjiang’s infrastructure and enhanced people’s lives, but the US says that billions of yuan have been funnelled into factories where alleged labour abuses take place.
Trucks crossing the border of China’s far west Xinjiang have plummeted over the past 18 months, mirroring a broader decline of exports in regional gross domestic product.
Debt issued by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a quasi-military entity in Washington’s cross hairs, has surged in recent years to fund social and security spending.
Beijing appears to have taken inspiration from the European Union’s (EU) decades-old blocking statute when it drafted its own law to counter Western sanctions.
China has been faced with international criticism over alleged forced labour, genocide and other abuses against the Uygur Muslim population since 2017.
