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US legislation targeting China and products from Xinjiang clears key congressional committee
- The Eagle Act calls for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics, strengthening US ties with Taiwan
- Also includes the House version of the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act
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Jacob Fromerin Washington
A key US House committee approved a sweeping bill targeting Beijing on a range of fronts on Thursday, moving Congress closer than ever to banning all goods from China’s Xinjiang region from entering the US.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on the Eagle Act, omnibus-style legislation that in addition to calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing 2022 Olympics, strengthening US ties with Taiwan, and cracking down on researchers in the US affiliated with the Chinese military, also includes the House version of the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act.
The US Senate unanimously passed its version of the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act on Wednesday night. The bill would change US policy to presume that any goods coming from Xinjiang are tainted by forced labour, and therefore banned from entry into the US unless American importers can prove otherwise.
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Experts say that proving so would essentially be impossible in the opaque Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, where the US accuses Beijing of committing genocide against Uygurs and other Muslim minority groups, and subjecting many of them to forced labour through various government programmes that rights groups say are masked as poverty alleviation work.
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Biden says G7 leaders agreed to call out China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong
Biden says G7 leaders agreed to call out China over human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong
The Chinese government denies all allegations of human rights abuses in the region.
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