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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Security guards are at the door of what is officially known as a vocational training center in Huocheng County, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Community, China, on September 3, 2018. REUTERS / Thomas Peter / File Photo
By Michael Martina and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday warned companies of the high risks of supply chains and investment links to China’s Xinjiang region, citing forced labor and human rights violations.
“Given the severity and extent of these abuses, businesses and individuals who do not exit supply chains, businesses, and / or investments related to Xinjiang may be at high risk of violating U.S. law,” the State Department said in a statement.
Expressing broader coordination on the issue of the U.S. government, the Department of Labor and the U.S. Office of Trade Representatives teamed up to provide updated advice on the first release of the Trump administration on July 1, 2020 by the State Department of Commerce, Homeland Security and the Treasury.
The Treasury Department declined to comment on the Financial Times report that the United States will impose more sanctions this week in response to China’s crackdown on Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that they were hearing that the administration was preparing new sanctions, but had no details about the timing. Another source told Reuters that the administration could announce similar business advice on Hong Kong as soon as Friday, as conditions worsen.
The new advice announced on Tuesday reinforces warnings to U.S. companies and warns that they are at risk of violating U.S. law if their operations are “indirectly” linked to the Chinese government’s “broad and wide surveillance network.” The warning also applies to financial support from venture capital and private equity firms.
The previously announced Biden administration also summed up its actions in the face of forced labor and rights violations in Xinjiang, including a ban on some imports of solar products to protect U.S. Customs and Border Protection and sanctions against companies and entities in Xinjiang.
On Friday, the administration added 14 Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist on alleged human rights violations and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang.
According to the advice, the Chinese government continues to commit “horrific abuses” in Xinjiang and elsewhere “by predominantly Muslim Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and ethnic Kyrgyz and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.”
China denies the abuses and said it has set up vocational training centers to deal with Xinjiang’s extreme religion.
Katherine Tai USTR has praised other partners and allies in Canada, Mexico and the US for their commitment to ban the importation of forced labor goods.
“I want to commend our allies for sending a clear signal that there is no room for forced labor in a fair and rules-based international trading system,” he said in a statement.
President Joe Biden has sought the support of U.S. allies in Beijing over human rights violations and the White House says foreign and trade policies are becoming increasingly consistent.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told Washington that the Hong Kong authorities will continue to be responsible for the erosion of the rule of law and impose “costs and penalties” on Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations, including forced labor.
He said Hong Kong was increasingly concerned about the dangers of the rule of law that were previously confined to mainland China, but made no specific mention of the new measures.
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