After the Department of Commerce on Monday slapped sanctions on Chinese companies using forced labor from Uighur Muslims, the Chinese government on Tuesday responded by accusing the United States of a political ploy hurt Chinese business.
The struggle is the latest chapter in a campaign of increased U.S. pressure on China, following revelations of the extent to which the communist regime has abused the Muslim minority population, of which about 1 million are interned in concentration camps with forced labor, genetic testing, and sterilizations. The latest sanctions add 11 Chinese companies to a list of foreign entities whose trade with the U.S. is limited.
“This action will ensure that our goods and technologies are not used in the Chinese Communist Party’s despicable offensive against defenseless Muslim minority populations,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.
The Chinese government promised retaliation, saying that the sanctions were an effort to “undermine the stability of Xinjiang,” the province where the majority of the Uighur population lives.
The Department of Commerce warned in early July that American companies using goods manufactured in Xinjiang would face “reputational, economic and legal risks” by continuing to trade with those Chinese entities. It issued similar warnings earlier this year to companies that were “engaged in or enabling” trade with Chinese manufacturers from the region.
In June, the U.S. made pressure on Xinjiang an official part of its foreign policy toward China when President Trump signed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act, which passed both houses of Congress by near unanimous consent.
China last week responded to the increased pressure by dropping sanctions on Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, as well as Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and Republican Rep. Chris Smith, barring them from entry into the country. All have been outspoken critics of China, advocating for a harsher policy toward the regime’s history of human rights abuses.
