US punishes Chinese solar companies for human rights violations in Uyghur | Human Rights News

The export restrictions are aimed at companies that produce raw materials used in the Xinjiang solar panel industry.

The United States on Wednesday restricted exports to five Chinese companies involved in human rights violations in China, including large polysilicon producers for the solar panel industry.

Companies were on the list of human rights violations and abuses Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, according to a statement from the US government on Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Commerce has said that companies accept or use forced labor.

Among the companies added to the Trade Entity List of Entities are Hoshine Silicon Industry; Xinjiang Daqo New Energy, a unit of Daqo New Energy Corp; Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals, a subsidiary of Shanghai East Hope Group’s manufacturing giant; Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

Some companies are the main manufacturers of the least used monocrystalline silicon and polysilicon production of solar panels.

U.S. officials suggested that President Joe Biden’s administration was considering restrictions on Chinese solar producers in Xinjiang, a large part of the supply of polysilicon used in solar panels.

“I understand that the Biden administration is right now in the process of evaluating whether that will be the case penalties“Climate Representative John Kerry Biden told the U.S. House of Representatives in May about Xinjiang’s solar products.

The XPCC They were sent to Xinjiang in the 1950s to build farms and settlements. It remains strong in the region’s energy and agriculture sectors, operating almost as a parallel state.

The US too he banned cotton imports From the XPCC in December, referring to “slave labor”.

Foreign governments and human rights activists say the repression has been strong surveillance in the Uighur region, directing some areas of detention. The U.S. Treasury Department last year punished the XPCC for “serious violations of the rights of ethnic minorities.”

In March, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on two other Chinese officials in connection with the seriousness human rights violations In China’s Xinjiang region, Washington says ethnic Muslims are victims of genocide. One of the convicted officials was Wang Junzheng, secretary of the XPCC Party Committee.

Both the Biden administration and the previous administration of former President Donald Trump have taken harsh tones against China’s treatment of Uighurs.

The Trump administration proclaims China’s conduct in Xinjiang “genocide”In January, shortly before Biden took office.

Biden encouraged world leaders He took action against forced labor in Xinjiang on his first international trip in April.