US detains shipments from Chinese solar makers on charges of forced labour

A Chinese solar company is providing evidence to US customs after reports came in that the US had detained over 1000 solar products made in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region at its ports, the Global Times reported citing foreign media reports.

The US customs didn't clear a "single shipment" after which a Chinese solar company said that they are in the process of providing the "supplementing evidence" to them.

"Given the 'enormous uncertainties' in the US market, no solar products are entering the US market now," an industry insider, who is close to a leading Chinese solar company, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In June, the US State Department said in a statement said that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin to implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's provisions to prohibit imports made by forced labour into the United States of products made in Xinjiang,

"The State Department is committed to working with Congress and our interagency partners to continue combating forced labour in Xinjiang and strengthen international coordination against this egregious violation of human rights," the statement added.

Chinese manufacturers, Longi Green Energy Technology Co Ltd, Trina Solar Co Ltd and JinkoSolar Holding Co. Together, typically account for up to one-third of U.S. panel supplies but have halted new shipments to the United States over concerns that additional cargoes will also be detained, reported Big News Network.

Last month, Li Gao, the head of the climate change office at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said some countries "fabricate reasons to suppress China's photovoltaic enterprises...damaging the global collective effort to fight climate change," according to Big News Network.

US President Joe Biden signed the Act into law on December 23, 2021, after it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the United States Congress.

On the issue of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the US-imposed ban on all the products produced in western China's Xinjiang, Bangladesh Live News reported in July.

The United States says Uyghur Muslims are being persecuted, and child labour and labour laws are being violated in Xinjiang province where cotton is grown, which does not approve of U.S. human rights and labour law.

Not only that, the countries and organizations that will import goods from this region of China and export them to the United States must also ensure that these products are not made by forced labour, reported Bangladesh Live News.

The United States has repeatedly accused China of forcing Muslims to stay in Xinjiang. Which amounts to significant human rights violations and genocide.

There have also been allegations that Uighur Muslims are being held in inhumane conditions in mass detention camps, according to Bangladesh Live News.