China vows to respond after US imposes sanctions on Xinjiang

17 December 2021, 09:54

China US sanctions
China US Sanctions. Picture: PA

The law is the latest in a series intensifying US penalties over China’s alleged abuse of ethnic and religious minorities in the western region.

China on Friday said it would take all necessary measures to safeguard its institutions and enterprises, after the US senate passed a new law barring imports from the Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labour.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the measure approved Thursday “indicates that the US has no scruples about smearing China by every means”.

“The relevant actions seriously undermine the principles of market economy and international economic and trade rules, and seriously damage the interests of Chinese institutions and enterprises,” Mr Wang told reporters at a daily briefing.

“China strongly deplores and rejects that and urges the US to immediately correct its mistake.

“China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese institutions and enterprises,” Mr Wang said.

Biden China sanctions
US president Joe Biden meets virtually with Chinese president Xi Jinping in November (Susan Walsh/AP)

The law is the latest in a series intensifying US penalties over China’s alleged systemic and widespread abuse of ethnic and religious minorities in the western region, especially Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, that the administration terms genocide.

President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign the law after overcoming initial hesitation from the White House and what supporters said was opposition from corporations, also announced new sanctions Thursday.

Those target several Chinese biotech and surveillance companies, a leading drone manufacturer and government entities for their actions in Xinjiang.

Despite numerous independent investigations finding forced sterilisation and large detention camps where many Uyghurs allegedly are compelled to work in factories, China has denounced all such claims as the “lie of the century”.

It portrays them as part of an effort to stifle China’s growth and smear its reputation.

While at first denying the existence of the prison-like camps, China later said they were voluntary centres for job training and de-radicalisation, and now says all “students” have graduated.

China US sanctions
A textile manufacturing plant in Aksu, Xinjiang (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

“The US government is trying to strangle the economy of Xinjiang through its industrial and supply chains under the false pretexts of ‘forced labour’ and ‘violations of human rights’, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday, citing a report by the Institute for Central Asia Studies under Lanzhou University in north-western Gansu province.

The US says raw cotton, gloves, tomato products, silicon and viscose, fishing gear and a range of components in solar energy are among goods alleged to have been produced with the help of the forced labour.

Xinjiang is a resource-rich mining region, important for agricultural production, and home to a booming industrial sector.

Detainees are also moved outside Xinjiang and put to work in factories, including those in clothing and textiles, electronics, solar energy and automotive sectors, the US says.

The legislation requires government agencies to expand their monitoring of the use of forced labour by China’s ethnic minorities.

Crucially, it creates a presumption that goods coming from Xinjiang are made with forced labour.

Businesses will have to prove that forced labour, including by workers transferred from Xinjiang, played no part in a product to take it into the United States.

Separately, the treasury department announced it was placing DJI, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, and seven other Chinese companies on an investment blacklist over their alleged involvement in biometric surveillance and tracking of Uyghurs.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Video footage shows the convoy had emergency lights flashing when it was hit

Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events

Jaguar Land Rover has paused shipments to the US in the wake of 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover halts shipments to US in wake of tariffs as Trump insists he'll win 'economic revolution'

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday

Death toll from Russian strike on Zelenskyy's home town rises as 18 confirmed dead - including nine children

Donald Trump's 10% tariff on UK products has officially come into force

Trump tariffs come into force as global stock markets plunge deeper into the red

Tom Howard

British tourist killed after being struck by boulder on trek through Himalayas

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns following a Russian missile attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia kills 16 people including three children in missile strike on Zelenskyy's home town, with dozens wounded

Travel influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to North Sentinel Island

Tourist who left Coke for world's most isolated tribe 'could have wiped them all out' - and police 'can't go collect can'

White House weighs in to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

White House looking to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

This image provided by NASA shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore. (NASA via AP)

Stranded NASA astronauts reveal they were almost trapped in space 'forever' after horror malfunction

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen'

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen' after far-right leader found guilty of embezzlement in 'witch hunt'

China will impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on imports from the US

China announces additional 34% tariffs on US imports in retaliation over Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’