UK represses Xinjiang labor camps, accusing China of ‘torture’

LONDON – The UK has introduced new measures to eradicate the presence of alleged forced labor in the Chinese region of Xinjiang in British supply chains.

China is accused of extrajudicially detaining more than 1 million Uighur Muslims and other minorities in political re-education camps in the northwest autonomous region, along with invasive surveillance, restrictions on Uighur culture and the use of forced labor.

China vehemently denies the accusations, claiming that the centers aim to combat extremism and encourage the development of professional skills.

Companies with an annual turnover of more than £ 36 million ($ 49.2 million) who fail to demonstrate adequate due diligence to ensure that their supply chains are free from forced labor under the Modern Slavery Act, will now be subject to fines, announced British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

“We must ensure that UK companies are not part of the supply chains leading to the gates of internment camps in Xinjiang and ensure that the products of human rights violations that occur in those camps do not end up on the supermarket shelves we buy here in home week after week, “said Raab.

The government will also initiate an urgent review of export controls to prevent exports that could assist in human rights abuses, issue new guidelines for companies operating in the region and extend the Modern Slavery Act to the public sector, preventing any company that has forced labor ties resulting from public contracts.

Raab said the evidence is now “far-reaching” and “paints a truly distressing picture”, accusing China of operating “internment camps, arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labor, torture and forced sterilization, all on an industrial scale” .

“It is really horrible – the barbarism that we hoped was lost to another era that is being practiced today, while speaking by one of the leading members of the international community,” he added.

Raab cited first-hand reports of diplomats and fugitive victims, satellite images showing factories inside internment camps and the destruction of mosques, and reports by third parties from the UN Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Raab pointed out that China’s refusal to allow access to a UN human rights commissioner or other credible external authority was not compatible with these claims.

“China cannot simply refuse all access to trusted third party bodies that could verify the facts and, at the same time, maintain a position of credible denial,” he added.

Raab’s measures stopped sanctioning individual Chinese officials about their involvement in the alleged atrocities, and the shadow of Labor Party foreign affairs secretary Lisa Nandy said her counterpart did not go far enough, comparing Raab’s actions to ” fix the edges “.

The presence of forced labor in international supply chains has been the target of several important governments in recent years. In late 2020, several American companies were criticized for allegedly lobbying to weaken a bipartisan bill banning imports from Xinjiang.

“Some American politicians have planned disinformation of the so-called ‘forced labor’ to restrict and oppress relevant parties and companies in China, as well as to curb China’s development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying told CNBC in December.

“All ethnic groups in Xinjiang choose their occupations according to their own will and sign ’employment contracts’ of their own accord according to the law on the basis of equality.”