Washington: America has banned the import of five products including computer parts and cotton from China. The United States says that in China, they are produced in forced labor camps in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang Province. The relationship between the US and China, already under stress, has worsened after the Covid-19 crisis.
US President Donald Trump blames China for the worldwide outbreak of Corona Virus epidemic. Relations between the two have deteriorated due to accusations of human rights violations and technology theft in Hong Kong’s autonomy, Tibet, Xinjiang province. The US Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday that imports of products such as cotton, apparel, computer parts and hair products are prevented.
The fifth product that the US has banned is all products manufactured by workers of Lope County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center in Xinjiang Province. According to the statement, all these products have been made by forceful work of the Chinese government in China’s Xinjiang Uyghar Autonomous Region.
The Chinese government has long been engaged in systematic human rights violations against Uighurs, other ethnicities and religious minorities in the region. Earlier the US Department of Customs and Border Protection had issued five ‘Withhold Release Orders’ to maintain this import ban.
These orders prohibit the importation of goods produced from bonded labor in the US. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump government had drawn the world’s attention to human rights violations by the Communist Party of China in Xinjiang Province. This action has been taken to support this move.
