China slams US law restricting imports from Xinjiang

The government of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on Saturday denounced a U.S. law that restricts imports from Xinjiang as a violation of international law.

U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act on Thursday amid mounting tension including appeals by activists for a boycott of February's Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The law prohibits U.S. businesses from importing goods from Xinjiang unless they can be proven not to have been made by forced labour.

A spokesperson of the government of Xinjiang said the region "resolutely opposes any form of ethnic discrimination and forced labour."

"Based on the principle of equality, voluntariness and consensus through consultation, workers of all ethnic groups sign labor contracts with employing enterprises according to law, and their rights to labor remuneration, vacation and rest, labour safety protection and social insurance are protected according to law," said Xu Guixiang, spokesperson of the government of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

He said the Act has seriously trampled on the common values of human society.

"Labour creates wealth is the basic law of human society, and the right to work is a basic human right," Xu said, "any country should protect the people's basic labor rights and let the people live a better life through hard work."

Foreign governments and researchers say more than one million Uyghurs and other minorities have been confined in camps in Xinjiang in China's northwest.

Chinese officials are accused of using forced abortions, forced labor and mass indoctrination.

Chinese officials reject the accusations and say the camps are meant for job training and to combat radicalism.