Washington (AFP)

The US Senate unanimously approved Wednesday evening a bill banning imports of products made in Xinjiang to condemn the "forced labor" of the Uyghur Muslim minority in this region of northwest China.

"The message sent to Beijing and to any international society that benefits from forced labor in Xinjiang is clear: it's over," responded Republican Senator Marco Rubio, co-author of the text with Democrat Jeff Merkley.

He denounced the "crimes against humanity" committed according to him by the Chinese Communist Party which, according to American research, has arbitrarily interned more than a million Uyghurs in "camps" of Xinjiang.

“Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang are victims of forced labor, tortured, imprisoned, forcibly sterilized and forced to abandon their religious and cultural practices by the Chinese government,” said Jeff Merkley.

The text calls in particular for a guide on "supply chain tracing" for importers and that US customs propose a plan to prevent imports and identify factories, businesses and individuals involved in forced labor.

The text must be approved by the House of Representatives and then ratified by President Joe Biden to enter into force.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce denounced the Senate action on Wednesday, saying "so-called questions on human rights and forced labor contradict the facts."

"The actions of the United States seriously damage the industry and the global supply chain" as well as China, the United States and the global economic recovery, the ministry added.

The United States in recent months has tightened its sanctions against Chinese companies for alleged "violations" of human rights in Xinjiang.

Washington accuses Beijing of "carrying out a campaign of repression" against "Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other Muslim minority groups."

The Biden administration has placed more than a dozen Chinese companies on its trade blacklist, bans the import of solar panel materials made by a Chinese company, the import of hair products, cotton, computer parts or textiles made by companies in Xinjiang.

This Chinese region has long been hit by bloody attacks targeting civilians, attributed to separatists or Islamists of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic group.

In response, the authorities imposed draconian police surveillance.

Beijing denies the existence of "camps" and asserts that they are "vocational training centers" intended to help the population find employment in order to distance them from Islamist extremism.

© 2021 AFP