The Uyghur Pressured Labor Prevention Act successfully bans all imports from China’s Xinjiang area, the place the U.S. authorities has mentioned that the Chinese language Communist Get together is perpetrating a genocide towards the spiritual minority, together with slave labor, compelled sterilizations and focus camps. Beneath the phrases of the invoice, firms that produce items in Xinjiang may be granted an exception in the event that they present proof that these merchandise should not made utilizing compelled labor.
“Many firms have already taken steps to wash up their provide chains,” Rubio mentioned. “For many who haven’t accomplished that, they’ll not have the ability to proceed to make Individuals — each certainly one of us, frankly — unwitting accomplices within the atrocities, within the genocide that’s being dedicated by the Chinese language Communist Get together.”
Rubio held up the protection coverage invoice earlier this month as he pushed for the Uyghur invoice’s inclusion within the annual bundle; round that point, the Uyghur laws confronted questions on potential considerations from the White Home. Some main firms have been additionally lobbying towards the invoice, arguing it could disrupt provide chains globally.
Then, on Wednesday evening, the laws stalled as soon as once more when Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tried to connect a one-year extension of the kid tax credit score, which expires on the finish of the yr. However Wyden rapidly backed off, paving the best way for the Uyghur invoice’s unanimous approval.
The Home unanimously handed the invoice late Tuesday evening, and the White Home has indicated that Biden will signal it.
Over the previous week, Rubio and McGovern negotiated a consensus invoice after the Home and Senate handed barely completely different variations. Rubio’s invoice cleared the Senate unanimously earlier this yr, and McGovern’s model secured the assist of all however one lawmaker within the Home.
The pair introduced an settlement on legislative textual content on Tuesday, and the Home acted swiftly on the measure earlier than leaving city for the vacations.
The legislative effort comes because the world prepares for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, with China hawks within the U.S. and around the globe advocating for a unified protest of China’s human rights document. The Biden administration not too long ago introduced that it could impose a diplomatic boycott on the Video games, barring U.S. authorities officers from attending.
