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US-China relations
China

US delays human rights sanctions targeting Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

  • American companies had originally been given until September 30 to stop doing business with the XPCC; they will now have until November 30
  • Treasury Department also issues clarification related to sanctions on certain Hong Kong government officials

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Police detain a protester after a Chinese flag was removed from a flagpole at a rally in support of Xinjiang Uygurs’ human rights in Hong Kong last year. Photo: Reuters
Jacob FromerandOwen Churchill
The US Treasury Department announced a two-month delay on human rights sanctions targeting Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a Chinese paramilitary organisation in China’s northwest Xinjiang region that has been accused of human rights violations against Uygurs and other Muslim ethnic minority groups there.

American companies had originally been given until September 30 to stop doing business with the XPCC, but with five days remaining until that deadline, the department said on Friday they will now have until November 30 to “wind down” their operations.

Xinjiang plays an outsize role in the world’s cotton and textile supply chain, and the XPCC – also known as the Bingtuan – controls many cotton farms and other components of the textile industry in the region, ranging from processing the raw cotton to selling American-made cotton-harvesting machines.

Experts say it is impossible to do business with China’s cotton and textile industries without also engaging with the XPCC in some way.

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Rights groups say the XPCC is responsible for human rights abuses in the region, including the use of forced labour in the cotton and textile industries. The Chinese government rejects those accusations and says the XPCC has contributed to Xinjiang’s economic development.

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