US President Joe Biden bans import of goods from China's Xinjiang province to prevent use of forced labour

Tags: International News

• United States (US) President Joe Biden has  signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that bans import of goods from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China into the US made with forced labour. 

What is the law 

• The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act,  bans all imports from China’s Xinjiang region into the United States unless companies can show the U.S. government “clear and convincing evidence” their supply chains have not used the labor of ethnic Muslims enslaved in Chinese camps.

What is the issue 

• United States accuses China of genocide against the  Muslim Uyghur who are kept in a concentration  camp by Chinese authorities violating their basic human rights and are forced to work without any labour rights .
• The Chinese government describes the camps as "re-education" facilities aimed at combating terrorism.  The Chinese government accuses many Ughyer of being a part of radical Islmaic movement which threaten China .
• An East Turkestan Independence Movement led by the East Turkestan Liberation Organisation  seeks to establish an Independent country for the Ugyhers in the Xinjiang region of China. To crush the separatist movement China has kept a large number of Uygher who it feels are sympathetic to the East Turkestan Movement  in special camps denying them basic human rights . 
• To put pressure on China on its human right issues the United States  and its allies Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. 
• The players of these countries will participate in the Beijing Olympics but these governments will not send their  official  delegation to China to protest China's poor human rights record  and its handling of minorities like Ugyer muslims and Tibetaines.

 What is the Economic and Environmental cost to the US 

• However many American companies are against the act as more than  than 40% of the world’s polysilicon supply comes from Xinjiang. Polysilicon is  used as a raw material by the solar photovoltaic and electronics industry. If it is banned from China then the prices of these products will rise in the United States leading to  costly goods for the American consumer .
• It will also hamper US commitment to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels as the solar energy cost will rise. It will have an adverse effect on the US commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emission.