As Australia mulls ban on Xinjiang-made goods, critics ask why China is being singled out for forced labour

Name: US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang
Uploaded: 2021-02-25T03:15:12.000Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang

An Australian lawmaker has proposed banning the import of items made by forced labour in China, including those from Xinjiang

But rights groups ask why China is being singled out, instead of including all countries known to have cases of forced labour

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A man walks past a screen showing images of China’s President Xi Jinping in Kashgar, in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: AFP

John Power

Published: 11:15am, 25 Feb 2021Updated: 11:34am, 25 Feb 2021

The United States has backed an independent Australian lawmaker’s proposal for Canberra to ban the import of all goods made through forced labour in China, including those produced in its westernmost region of Xinjiang, where the United Nations estimates about 1 million Uygur and other Muslim minority citizens are being held against their will in so-called re-education camps.

While China has been accused of subjecting detainees to political indoctrination and forced labour in the camps, Beijing has denied this, insisting that its “vocational education and training centers” respect minorities’ religious beliefs and customs, and reduce poverty and violent extremism.

The US State Department, in a submission to an Australian parliamentary committee discussing the draft bill, said it supported the goals of the legislation. Together with Britain and Canada, the US has in recent weeks moved to ban goods that it claims are linked to Uygur forced labour and expressed alarm over testimony from dissidents alleging other human rights violations in the camps, including forced sterilisation, systemic rape and torture.

While numerous groups in Australia – including those advocating for Uygurs – have supported the proposal, others in submissions to the committee have criticised the bill’s singling out of China and blanket ban on all goods made in Xinjiang, irrespective of any proven links to forced labour.

Human Rights Watch and the Australian Council of Trade Unions have expressed support for the bill’s aims, while suggesting the proposals be expanded to all goods linked to forced labour, regardless of country of origin. India was home to the largest number of people living in modern slavery in 2018, with an estimated 8 million slaves, followed by China, Pakistan, North Korea and Nigeria, according to the Global Slavery Index produced that year by the Walk Free Foundation.

David Brophy, a senior lecturer in modern Chinese history at the University of Sydney, said given the legislation only named China, Beijing would issue a “predictable response” that “this is simply part of a Western campaign to delegitimise it and harm its economy” or “that Australia is only adopting this legislation to keep pace with American sanctions”.

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US declares China has committed genocide in its treatment of Uygurs in Xinjiang

“It’s essential, I believe, that Australia is able to respond convincingly to such accusations, and demonstrate that its actions reflect a genuine desire to eliminate forced labour from global supply chains,” he said. “It’s very hard to do that if the legislation only names one country.”

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