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The United States has banned imports from another tranche of Chinese companies over alleged human-rights abuses involving the Uighurs, targeting 37 textile, mining and solar companies, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday.
The companies include Huafu Fashion Co., one of the world’s largest textile manufacturers, and 25 of its subsidiaries, which the US has linked to forced-labour practices in China’s cotton industry.
The companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts the import of goods tied to what the US describes as China’s human-rights abuses and ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
US authorities say Chinese authorities have established internment camps for Uighurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in China’s western Xinjiang region. Beijing has denied any abuses.
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The newly listed companies also include Donghai JA Solar Technology Co, which develops solar-energy products with polysilicon made in Xinjiang, and Hongyuan Green Energy Co, which sources polysilicon from the region, according to the US
Zijin Mining Group Co and three of its subsidiaries, which source and extract zinc, copper and other metals from the region, are among the mining companies.
The latest additions bring the total number of companies on the list to 144 since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in December 2021.
The companies could not immediately be reached for comment.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By Karen Freifeld and Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Franklin Paul and Rod Nickel
Learn more:
What the Latest Clampdown on Xinjiang Cotton Means for Fashion
New policies on both sides of the Atlantic mean businesses will likely have to prove their supply chains do not pass through the Chinese region, where the reported detention of Uighurs in forced labour camps is rife.
