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US Customs and Border Protection will detain shipments containing cotton and cotton merchandise originating from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a serious cotton producer within the region, which is dwelling to about 11 million Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority.
“The ‘made in China’ label is not just about the country of origin. It’s a warning label,” Ken Cuccinelli, the Department of Homeland Security senior official performing the duties of the deputy secretary, mentioned throughout a information convention Wednesday. “Those cheap cotton goods you may be buying for family and friends during the season of giving, if coming from China, may have been made by slave labor in some of the most egregious human rights violations existing today.”
On Wednesday, CBP issued what is called a “Withhold Release Order” on cotton from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which permits the company to detain shipments at US ports and provides corporations the chance to export their shipments or to exhibit that the merchandise was not produced with pressured labor.
The newest order applies to all cotton merchandise from Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and its affiliate entities, comparable to clothes textiles, cottonseed oil and paper merchandise.
“XPCC’s reach is quite extraordinary in the Xinjiang region,” mentioned Cuccinelli. The firm employs an estimated 12% of Xinjiang’s inhabitants and generates 17% of its cotton heavy business, based on CBP.
Eighty-five p.c of the cotton produced in China comes from Xinjiang, based on CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith, who famous the challenges for the business to separate out items made with pressured labor versus items that aren’t.
However, CBP mentioned it is the accountability of US corporations to make sure they don’t seem to be importing merchandise produced with pressured labor.
“These companies absolutely have a responsibility to make sure that they implement due diligence. They have been on notice. There’s no ambiguity there,” mentioned Mark Morgan, CBP senior official performing the duties of the commissioner.
While Wednesday’s order falls in need of a regional restriction, it can have “sweeping impact” due to the attain that Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has on the region and the cotton business, mentioned Cuccinelli.
He mentioned a regional order remains to be “on the table” however that the company needs to make sure it will be practical and operable earlier than shifting forward.
CNN’s Nectar Gan, Ben Westcott and James Griffiths contributed to this report.
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