(Yicai) Aug. 3 -- China's Ministry of Commerce and the China Cotton Association have strongly objected to the US government’s decision to add 43 more Chinese companies to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

The US Department of Homeland Security added 43 firms from sectors including cotton textiles, aluminum, gold mining and pharmaceuticals to the UFLPA Entity List on July 31, marking the largest single expansion since the list was established in 2022. The additions include Shandong Gold Mining, Tianshan Aluminum Group, Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group, Chacha Food and Fujian Septwolves Industry. Two of the newly added firms appear on two separate sub-lists.

The US government "has reasonable cause to believe" that these entities participate in state-sponsored labor transfer programs involving Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz or other persecuted groups from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or that they source materials from the region under state-run labor schemes, the DHS said.

The move came just one day after top trade envoys from China and the US engaged in "candid, in-depth and constructive" discussions during a video call aimed at maintaining stable bilateral economic and trade ties, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said on July 31.

These measures harm China's interests and "severely deviate" the consensus reached by the two heads of state. China “firmly opposes” the move, he added.

China has consistently opposed forced labor, the spokesperson said, adding that Xinjiang is a socially stable and economically prosperous region and that no form of "forced labor" whatsoever exists there. China urged the US to stop manipulating the forced-labor issue and to cease what it described as the unjustified suppression of Chinese companies. The spokesperson added that China will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its enterprises.

More than 90 percent of Xinjiang’s cotton is now machine-harvested, the China Cotton Association said on Aug. 2. The entire production process, from planting and harvesting to processing and spinning have become highly automated. The rights of cotton farmers and industry workers are fully protected under Chinese law, and employment is entirely voluntary, the association said, adding that there is no such thing as forced labor.

The US move essentially politicizes and weaponizes human rights issues in an attempt to constrain the development of China's cotton and textile industry, the association said. It called on domestic firms to stay resilient, diversify their export markets and strengthen supply chain resilience.

The updated list takes effect on Aug. 3, bringing the total number of entities on the UFLPA list to 187.

Since June 21, 2022, US Customs and Border Protection has applied the UFLPA’s "rebuttable presumption" to goods originating from Xinjiang, treating them by default as products of forced labor. Importers must provide sufficient traceability documentation demonstrating that their supply chains are not linked to forced labor, or their goods will be barred from entering the US under Section 307 of the US Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1307).

Editor: Kim Taylor