Forced labor still haunts China’s Xinjiang, report finds

An article from Politico highlights an upcoming report from VOC’s Dr. Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow and Director in China Studies, on forced labor in Xinjiang. Zenz’s report will show that forced labor transfers are increasing in the region.

As the article conveys, “the Chinese region of Xinjiang continues to subject members of the Uyghur ethnic group to forced labor two years after a damning U.N. report detailed the abusive practice, according to new research previewed exclusively by POLITICO. The findings will likely pressure Western lawmakers to further restrict imports of products from the region.

According to a report by Beijing-sanctioned academic Adrian Zenz, due to be published this week, ‘forced labor transfers’ of the Uyghur Muslim workforce in 2023 ‘exceeded those from the previous year and surpassed state-mandated quotas.’

The study, which focuses on 2023 and early this year, adds to a growing body of evidence that Beijing is using forced labor and mass internment camps to control the Uyghurs — and ramps up pressure on the European Union to finalize plans for a bloc-wide ban on imports of products made with forced labor.

Such a ban, currently in the hot phase of negotiations, would allow customs authorities in EU countries to take products off the market if they are found to have been made using forced labor.”

Read the full article in Politico.