US House passes bill to ban imports from Xinjiang

The US House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, one of three measures backed overwhelmingly as Washington continues its pushback against Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.

The House backed the “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act” by an overwhelming 428-1. To become law, it must also pass the Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden.

The Uyghur measure would create a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods from Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has set up a vast network of detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, were made with forced labor.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the US government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.

Republicans have accused Biden’s White House and his fellow Democrats in Congress of slow-walking the legislation because it would complicate the president’s renewable energy agenda.