The Department of Commerce on Wednesday urged companies to be vigilant in how they do business with Chinese manufacturers, warning that they could potentially become implicated in human rights abuse.
Amid a series of statements, Undersecretary for Industry and Security Cordell Hull said that the department’s recent listing of 11 Chinese manufacturers on a list of entities engaged in human and religious freedom violations is a signal to companies that they cannot engage in “willful blindness” when contracting manufacturing, especially for technology.
“Companies can’t hide their head in the sand on this — these businesses are on a federal register,” Hull said during a hearing hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Since last year, the Departments of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security have been working in tandem to discourage businesses from working with Chinese counterparts, especially in Xinjiang province, where the communist regime has reportedly interned more than 1 million Uighur Muslims in camps. Because many Xinjiang factories use them in forced labor, the United States has slapped sanctions on government officials and companies.
Recent investigations have revealed the full extent to which Uighurs, as well as other religious minorities, have been abused in China. Newspapers and human rights advocacy groups have uncovered a wide-reaching surveillance system that the Chinese government uses to repress the practice of religion. Uighurs kept in camps are regularly tortured, sterilized, and some, allegedly, have had their bodies harvested for organs.
Tony Perkins, vice chairman of the religious freedom commission, which has studied religious freedom restrictions in China since the Clinton administration, condemned the Chinese government’s methods of keeping tabs on religious minorities. These practices involve using cameras to differentiate Uighurs and Tibetans from Han Chinese. Perkins said this is the first time he’s seen a government use facial recognition to further a “racist” policy.
“For too long it has been said that American companies can do business in China without compromising their fundamental commitment to human rights and values,” he said, adding that companies have “a responsibility to ensure that the fruits of American innovation are not distorted into a dystopia.”
USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel, whom Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tapped earlier this year to advise the State Department on Uighur policy, said that while the various efforts by federal agencies have been effective in stanching trade with Xinjiang manufacturers, the issue cannot be fully addressed until the U.S. convinces its allies to do the same.
“This is a global effort,” he said. “This should not be only a matter for United States concern.”
The U.S. has pursued a more aggressive stance against China throughout much of the Trump administration, but especially since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and growing concerns about the abuse of religious minorities.
President Trump in June signed the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which passed both the House and Senate with near-universal support. The act enshrines Uighur rights in foreign policy toward China and requires Trump to sanction officials associated with Xinjiang province. Trump also signed an executive order in June calling international religious freedom a “moral” imperative for the U.S.
The Chinese government responded in kind, in July sanctioning Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Rep. Chris Smith, as well as Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who handles the State Department’s policy on Uighur rights.
The Chinese government on Tuesday also promised that it would respond to the unfavorable listing of Xinjiang companies, accusing the U.S. of trying to “undermine the stability of Xinjiang.”
