WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government warned businesses of heightened risks involving supply chain and investment links to China’s Xinjiang province on Tuesday, citing forced labor and human rights abuses there are throughout China.
“Given the severity and extent of these abuses, businesses and individuals that do not exit supply chains, ventures, and/or investments connected to Xinjiang could run a high risk of violating U.S. law,” the State Department said in a statement.
The new notice updates a Xinjiang supply chain business advisory issued on July 1, 2020, and was issued by the State, Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security and Labor departments, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
The advisory said China’s government continues “horrific abuses” in Xinjiang and elsewhere “targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and ethnic Kyrgyz who are predominantly Muslim, and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.”
The move follows an action on Friday when the Biden administration added 14 Chinese companies and other entities to its economic blacklist over alleged human rights abuses and high-tech surveillance in Xinjiang.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Tim Ahmann and Susan Heavey; Editing by Franklin Paul and Jonathan Oatis)
